The Shadow Of Death
by Copperpelt
Summary: What would you do if you died, but had the chance to live? Would you do it, regardless of the stipulations? What if you did it with all of the best intentions, but things didn't turn out how you hoped they would? And although Shun took Death's offer in full stride, as the days drag on, he can't help but feel that he would have been better off declining the proposition. R&R PLEASE!
1. First Day Of My Life

_Shun_

How could I have been so stupid? It was because of my foolishness that I was in the mess that I was. And it was because of me that Alice was about to serve an unjust fate. My hands were cuffed above my head, their chains nailed into the rock wall behind me.

I leaned my head to side, mentally kicking myself for allowing any of this to happen. Once again, I tugged my hands against their restraints; I had been doing this for hours, and knew that I was now committing the true definition of insanity by trying to free myself after I knew that there was no way. _I should have just died, _I thought to myself, but it felt like my silent words echoed in the prison.

But I didn't die. I wanted to live, and I had the chance to do just that. Live. Although, one person's will to survive had sent so many things into chaos. Innocent people were going to suffer, and friends gone mad. It was almost enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I tilted my head back and a water droplet fell from the ceiling and onto my face. It landed just under my right eye, and I felt it follow down the pattern of the scar that had recently graced my facial features. That scar was proof of all of the bad choices I had made as of late.

_If only I had just died. _I kept repeating that over and over in my mind. It didn't matter now. I couldn't die, forced to stay on this world for all eternity until somebody said otherwise. That had been the life I chose, because just of that. It was life. Now, with that new life, everything had been shrouded in death. Why? Because I _was _death.

_Several Weeks Ago…._

_Shun_

I eased on the gas pedal of my car, and turned onto the main street. It was good to see Bayview once again; none of the others had been here in years. The only one that still remained, was Murucho. In fact, that was who I was driving to go see that day.

He had sent an invite out to the original six Brawlers; a means to get back in touch with everyone, and to also celebrate his belated birthday. A green light turned to red, and I slowly brought the car to a stop. As I sat at the red light, I couldn't help but wonder how much the others had changed over the past couple of years.

I doubted many of them had; such as Murucho or Dan. But there was always the possibility that Julie or Runo may have grown out of the same personalities that had for as long as I had known them. As for Alice, there wasn't much about her that could change.

Even when we were young, she was so much more mature than the others, and I didn't feel like the only one with common sense in the room. A smile graced my face with that thought. The light turned back to green, and I made the car proceed through the intersection.

_No One_

A car sped through the streets, traveling well above the speed limits. Other vehicles blew their horns at the speeding maniac, but he paid them little mind. He was well past drunk, yet continued to drink anyway, not aware of the fact that he needed to stop.

The driver made a sharp left turn, nearly running over a pedestrian that was crossing the street. The man waved his fist in the air and yelled obscenities at the drunkard as he sped down another street.

But little did many people know, this was meant to happen. This man was meant to be drunk, and whatever he did, was meant to happen. Well, almost all of it.

There were always 'liabilities' at times. The drunk driver gazed down at the steering wheel, as if almost confused as to what the contraption was meant for.

So, to test it out and see, he made another sharp turn. The front of his car, in turn, rammed into the side of another car. The four people inside, were killed on impact, and the tragedy was supposed to end there.

But nobody foresaw the hit car being pushed forward by the force, and into another as it cross the street. It was unintentional in all aspects, but there were always 'liabilities' in the game of fate.

_Shun_

I didn't realize anything happened, until it did. As I neared the block that contained Murucho's home, I thought I heard the sound of metal hitting against metal. It was deafening, covering up the music that was playing on the radio. Then, a car skidded out into the street, slamming into the driver's side of mine.

Things went black for a moment, and when I came to, I was laying out in the street. Things were blurry all around me, and the buildings and ground appeared the be shaking. Not like there was an earthquake, but more like the Earth was having a small seizure.

Through my blurred eyes, I was able to make out the shapes and figures of people standing. They didn't move, and I wondered why. Everything was shaking, after all. Did they not notice it? Or was it just me? When I thought about it, why was I laying out in the street anyway?

Panic began to set in. I was able to turn my head to the side, but not without causing pain to shoot throughout my body. My vision cleared slightly, and I saw the mangled mess of three cars. One of which, was mine. Way out in the distance, I heard the wailing of sirens.

What was going on? In on the the cars, I made out the shape of an arm hanging limply out of the window. The blaring sirens grew louder, and soon and ambulance pulled up to the scene. All while this went on, I was still confused as to what was going on.

Paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, and one immediately ran over to me while the others went towards the pile of crushed cars. The medic pulled out a flashlight and pointed it into my eyes. I didn't even blink when the LED bulb pierced my vision. Then, it was like a black cloak was draped over my eyes, and all I could see was darkness.

_Dan_

I checked my phone for what seemed like the tenth time within the hour. Shun was running late, leaving the rest of us to sit about Murucho's to wait for him. "Maybe he's caught up in traffic," said Runo, who was trying desperately to make light conversation.

Traffic sounded unlikely. I knew Shun all too well, and that if he were caught up in traffic, he would have called one of us or sent a text to let us know he was running late. Kato walked into the room, and saw that the five of us were sitting around, bored expressions plastered on our faces.

"How about some television to pass the time?" he asked and picked up the remote to the TV. I shrugged my shoulders, not really caring what we did, as long as Shun hurried up and we were able to continue to get things moving along. The TV flipped on, making that high-pitched sound as it warmed up.

Kato placed the remote on the coffee table and said, "You all can dispute over what to watch." He then walked out of the room, as if knowing that there would most likely be a fight break out over what channel. At the moment, the news was on. From a helicopter view, the screen showed a wreck about a block from Murucho's mansion. Even from that far above, it looked nasty.

Nobody bothered to change the channel; all eyes were glued to the horrific scene before us. The image went from the helicopter view, to somebody who was on the ground. The reported stood in front of the wreckage. I looked past her. There seemed to be three cars involved, but one of them looked somewhat familiar; it was hard to tell through the crushed and destroyed metal frame.

The reporter then said how many people were involved; six in all. From what information had been gathered, the wreck was caused by a drunk driver. All I could do was shake my head. "How horrible," Julie said under her breath.

The reporter then began to give off the list of names, and who was injured or may have perished in the accident. The drunk driver and a family of four died in the crash, leaving one critically injured to where they were passing in and out of death.

Then, came the names. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the report, unlike the others, but I caught the last name that the reporter gave out.

"Did…..Did she say Shun's name?" I asked, hoping that I had misheard the name. But by the facial expression on my friends' faces, I had not heard the wrong name. Once the reporter said which hospital the victims were being taken to, nobody hesitated to leave the mansion.

_Shun_

My eyes opened halfway, but all I saw around me was darkness. I soon realized that I was floating along the blackness on my back. _Am I dead? _There was a swooshing sound that reminded me of the wings of a large bird flying. I leaned forward, now floating in the air upright, rather than on my back.

Something similar to a spotlight came on, and illuminated a figure that was dressed from head to toe in a black cloak. I could not see his face due to the hood that covered his head. "Wh-who are you?" I asked. I noticed the figure's right arm was behind his back.

He then brought his arm out, and in his right hand, was a long scythe. My reflecting glittered in the silver metal blade on the end of the stick. "What's going on?" I demanded all while trying to remain calm. "Who are you?" I yelled. The figure lowered the scythe down and said in a deep voice, "I've been called many things; death, the grim reaper, and shinigami. Call me what you wish."

The only 'name' that stuck in my mind, was Death. "I-I'm….Dead?" I was surprised by the uncertainty in my voice. My words weren't sturdy either. They wavered as tears threatened to escape my eyes. I couldn't be dead. I was alive not five minutes ago, right?

Death said to me, "You're not dead yet, but you aren't alive either. You are in the middle ground of the two worlds." I began to shake my head back and forth. This had to be a dream! A horrible, sick dream! I would wake up, and find myself still in bed. Then, I would get ready and leave for Murucho's. Yeah, that's what I'd do. "You do not believe me, human. Fine. Let me show you the truth then," Death told me.

He raised his scythe and cut into the black air that surrounded everything. A tear in the darkness that resembled a tear in fabric, revealed to my a street. People were gathered around, shock and dismay on their faces. Off to the side, were three cars crushed together.

But the centerpiece of the scene, was my body laying a few feet from the wreckage. Blood covered my clothes and was pooled around me. If I had not been floating, then I would have most certainly fallen back. "This can't be real," I whispered to myself.

Death closed the rip-like image, returning the dark space back to how it had once been. "But it is, human," he said in that monotone voice of his. Death then turned to face me and said, "But you were not to meant to die. Not today at least. You are what we call, collateral damage. A Reaping gone horribly wrong. And as a way to repay you for this misfortune, I have an offer for you."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. I was 'collateral damage?' Tears were running down my face now, but I didn't notice them. I was still too taken aback by the image of my mangled body laying in that street. Death sighed and told me, "I know this is a lot to take in. It always is to those who have died. But you have an opportunity that not many of the deceased are able to get. You have a chance to live, but only if you accept what comes with it."

My interest was now peeked. "A chance to live?" I asked, my hopes getting the better of me. Of course I wanted to still live. Who wouldn't? Especially when I was just told that I wasn't meant to die like this. "Whatever it is, I'll do it! I just want to live!" I shouted at Death. He raised up a hand, which looked like that of a human; I expected it to by a skeleton hand.

He told me, "Hold on, human. Let me first explain what follows this offer. I'm required to let you know, so in case you don't like part of the stipulations, you are able to pass on to the next life." Did it really matter what the stipulations were? I wanted to live, and that was it. If I had to go around without arms and legs for the remainder of my years, I would have done it.

But, I let Death speak and tell me what he had to. "In order to regain your life, you must take on the responsibilities of a Reaper. That requires Reaping the souls of those who are meant to die. Like I mentioned before, you are one of the rare occassions in the world of Death. Not many people have this opportunity placed in front of them. If they did, then people would never die. They would only become Reapers."

From what I could gather, Death was telling me that this was something like insurance to repay me for this 'error' that occurred. But to take the souls of people? Could I even possibly be able to bring myself to do that? "What happens if I don't….'Reap' somebody?" I asked sheepishly.

Death tapped the metal blade on his scythe and told me, "We aren't able to kill you….Well, easily that is. But normally, we give a Reaper a warning if they don't Reap a person. If they continue to not do their job, then we do have the ability to punish as we see fit."

Surely I could convince myself that taking a person's soul was worth living. Death, as if sensing my doubt on this fact, spoke up. "They are meant to die when you Reap them. It's not like you are committing a murder." That was one way to look at it.

I ran a shaking hand through my hair. This was just Death. It wasn't like I was making a deal with the devil? _Then why does it feel like I am?_ I then asked, "How will I know who's supposed to die and who's not?" Death chuckled and leaned against his scythe.

"That all depends on the Reaper. Some of them can see when a person is going to die. Others, can sense it. Hell, I know of one Reaper that can smell when death is approaching a person." I found it surprising that there was more than one 'Death' in the world. But one spirit couldn't kill people all over the world now, could he?

Then again, I didn't know what all this being was capable of. Death held out his human hand and said, "You know the basics of what's involved. If you accept, then you will become a Reaper. You will go and take the souls of those who are meant to die, and escort them to either Heaven or Hell, depending on who the person is and what they've done. So, do you accept the offer?"

I looked at his hand, and was about to take in mine to shake, but I stopped short of his grab. "One question," I told him. Death, even though I could not see his face, I knew he was surprised. "I've never had a human ask so many questions before. Go ahead."

My mouth felt dry, but I found the words I needed. "Since Reapers know when a person is supposed to die, do you know if my mother was meant to die when she did?" Now that I knew how death pretty much worked, the question began to gnaw at my mind.

What if my mother had died unexpectedly like I had? Then she would have had the chance to become a Reaper. Would she have done it if it meant living? "I'm sorry, but the information of those who are already deceased, are strickly to be kept with the Reaper who took their souls. And I was not the one who Reaped your mother, so I cannot tell you."

Disappointment flooded over me, but all I said was, "Okay. I'm done with my questions. Let's do this." I took Death's hand and shook it to seal the deal; I felt as if he were smiling under that black hood of his. He then raised his scythe, and cut into the air. A flash of white blinded me, and I soon woke up in a hospital room, staring up at the florescent lights.

_Alice_

The moment we knew where Shun was being taken, Murucho demanding for Kato to bring the limo around. The faithful butler did as he was told, and now we were speeding towards the hospital. Shun wasn't dead, but according to the news report, he was extremely close.

For all we knew, he could have been dead as we made our way to the hospital. Nobody spoke in the limo, giving the whole ordeal a grim feeling. We drove past the scene of the wreckage, and I saw a wrecker truck carrying Shun's car away.

I couldn't bring myself to look at it. Today was supposed to be a day of celebration and happiness. Now, it had turned from a joyous occasssion, to one of sick feelings and worry. Kato pulled the limo up tp the hospital, and the five of us immediately ran inside.

Dan was the first to reach the receptionist's desk. "What room is Shun in?" he asked frantically. The woman didn't even bother to ask for a last name; she knew exactly who we were talking about. "He's in the ICU, but-" She didn't get a chance to finish speaking before we ran off towards Shun's location. I heard her shout, "You can't go in there!"

The five of us charged into the ICU and began to look around for Shun. Doctors and nurses gave us quizzical looks as we read the names on doors. Julie then shouted at us, "I found his room!" We ran down the hall and joined her. Sure enough, Shun's name was taped on the door.

None of us made an immediate move inside. Perhaps we were worried about what we would find inside. Dan was the first to reach for the door handle, and he slowly turned it. The door opened without even so much as a creak. My breath was snatched out of my lungs when I saw Shun.

There were bandages and stitches covering him everywhere. Tubes and lines stuck out of his arms; the only things keeping him alive. The right side of his face was wrapped in bandages, covering one of his amber eyes. Somebody walked into the room behind us; a doctor. He said harshly, "You all can't be in here." He then saw the looks on our faces, and I saw his demeanor change.

"Well, perhaps I can let you stay for a couple of minutes." The doctor then walked out of the room, scratching the back of his neck. I made my way to the end of his bed and took the clipboard from its holder. I read the information on it. From what it told me, since She was taken to the hospital, he was swaying back and forth between life and death.

I bit my lower lip and put the clipboard back. Things weren't looking good for him, and I didn't think that any of us could stand losing Shun. He then made a noise, and when I looked over at him, I saw the unbandaged eye open up, and a weak smile formed on his lips.

_Shun_

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital room. Tubes and wires tied me down, but I didn't freak out; I was well aware of all that had just happened to me. I died. It was simple as that. I wasn't supposed to have died though, and because of that, I got my second chance.

When I looked around the room, I saw that Dan and the others were in my room. They looked sick with worry, even down to the point that their faces were pale white. Alice was the first to see that I was awake, and I couldn't help but smile weakly.

She ran over to the side of my bed, tears pouring from her eyes. "Shun! Thank God you're awake!" she said through a sob. The others saw what Alice was making such a fuss over, and ran next to her, where they proceeded to do the same thing.

How could I have left this behind? How could I have declined Death's offer and died? I was sure the others could have stayed in that hospital room with me all night, but the doctors wouldn't allow it, and they had no choice but to leave. I laid in my bed, enjoying the view of the white ceiling.

If I had died, then I would have never been able to look at the boring ceilings of hospitals ever again. In fact, I wouldn't be able to look at a lot of things ever again. I had a new look on life; enjoy the little things, because you never know when they might be taken from you.

I fell asleep in the bed, but woke up late at night because the right side of my face was in pain. Slowly, I brought my hand up and touched the source of the pain. That was when I discovered the bandages that covered my eye and half of my face.

Curious as to see what had happened, I sat up and carefully pulled the wires to the machines out of me; I didn't need them anymore since I couldn't die again. I also made sure to unplug the machines so they would not make the sounds that told the doctors that I was dying.

After that, I went into the bathroom and turned on the lights. In the mirror, I was the personification of Death. The white bandages on my face, almost matched the ghostly appearance of the rest of my skin. Slowly, I brought my hands up to the bandages and took them off.

A long scar ran down from my forehead, over my right eye, and down my right cheek. I touched it with a shaky hand, feeling the fully healed skin that had left a present behind. But what took hold of most of my attention, was my eye. It was milky white, and looked like I had on a special contact.

But I did not. Starting to grow worried, I closed my left eye, keeping my right one open, and saw nothing but darkness. I could not see out of my right eye at all, not even the tiniest bit of light. The wreck had to have done this to me. What else could have? But I didn't care.

So what if my eye was a price to pay for my life? I tied the bandages back on, and left the bathroom. As I got back into my bed, I plugged the machines back on and returned the wires into my body, despite the fact that I did not need them to keep myself alive. In fact, I needed nothing else to keep me alive.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song First Day Of My Life by The Rasmus. _**I know! I know! i'm horrible for starting another story when i already have two on my plate! DX but i couldnt help it! i got this idea and i just wanted to start it sooooo badly! it probably won't get updating everyday like Southern Hymn, so i'm sorry but i have to tease you guys with another story that you'll have to wait on. dont shoot me! -hides- ahem. but anyway, i have a poll on my profile that is concerning the story title for my upcoming zombie sequel. do vote please. also, i will have the full cover to this story put on my profile soon (i'll let you all know when it's up). well, i'm so sorry for being a workaholic! -bows multiple times- read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~**


	2. Death's Curtain

_Alice_

Relief wasn't enough to describe how I felt after we left the hospital. Shun was awake, for the moment at least, and that was enough for me. Seeing him in that hospital bed, made the whole thing all that more real. Shun was hurt, almost dead, but he seemed to be pulling through.

Was it luck? A good flip of the coin? It didn't matter to me. I couldn't stand the thought of losing one of my close friends, and also couldn't stand to think about how Dan would react if Shun did die. The two were almost like brothers, in a sense.

It was just an impossible thing to think of; somebody you knew dying, that is. I hadn't really been around death all that much in my life, so it was a foreign territory to me. Kato stopped the limo in front of Murucho's; I hadn't even realized that we were back already.

Earlier, it felt like an eternity when we drove to the hospital. Now, it felt like time had returned to its normal pace. The five of us walked inside, and were immediately greeted by Murucho's parents. They wore worried looks on their faces, and his mother asked us, "Is Shun alright?"

Murucho scratched the back of his neck and said with uncertainty, "Not sure. He was awake when we went up there, but it's probably too early to make any guesses about whether he'll make it or not." That was true. Just because Shun was awake now, meant nothing.

It would depend on the days to come that determined whether Shun would fully recover. And even then, he might not be the same person. I had heard stories about how near-death experiences had dramatically changed people. It could alter their entire personalities, turning them into people that nobody recognized.

Would that happen to Shun? Would he become somebody else entirely? It was difficult to imagine Shun as anyone else other than himself. Mr. Marakura cleared his throat and told us, "You've all had a long day. Why don't you go upstairs and turn in early for the night?"

His suggestion sounded as good as any to me. The day had been a long one, filled with too much stress for any normal person to handle. Dan, Julie, Runo, and Murucho went ahead and took Mr. Marakura's advice, and went on to bed. I remained awake and found the kitchen, where I poured myself a glass of ice water.

I let out a tired sigh and started to make my way up towards my room, my glass of water in my hands and freezing my fingertips. This was just so much to take in at one time. It all seemed to happen so quickly, and that scared me. It scared me now that I saw how easily and fast life could be taken away.

Now, I felt like I had to be more careful. Something could happen to me just as easily it had happened to Shun, or the other people that were involved in that horrible crash. I began to wonder how their families and other loved ones were holding up.

Did they possibly envy Shun because he had surived so far, while the other victims had perished? Surely they couldn't hold this against Shun; none of it was his fault, and he had no way to control any of this. But these people were grieving, and they could be irrational now, not thinking about how their logic didn't make any sense.

I rounded another hallway, and walked into the sitting room that we had been in earlier that day. I was surprised to find Dan in there. He was sitting on the couch, watching the TV. The channel was still on the news and was reporting on the current information regarding the car crash.

"Dan? Is everything alright?" I asked softly so I might not wake any of the others that were sleeping in rooms nearby. He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes from the screen. There was sadness behind them, reflecting how he, and everyone else, was feeling at the moment.

I set my glass of water down on the coffee table next to the remote, then took a seat next to Dan. "Hey, Shun's going to be okay, Dan. Don't worry," I told him gently. But I felt guilty for making a hollow promise. There was no way that any of us knew for sure if Shun was going to be alright.

There were still a lot of days ahead of us, and each one would tell us if Shun was getting better or worse. I reached for the remote and turned the TV off, but Dan continued to watch the screen, as if the report was still carrying on.

Patting his shoulder, I told him, "Go to bed, Dan. Get some sleep. It'll do you some good and get your mind off some things." He glanced at me, then sighed. "Alright," he said and stood up from the couch. Dan then vanished into the hallway, and I heard his room door close shortly after he left the sitting room.

I sighed, then looked back at my glass of water. The ice had melted, leaving a ring of water at the bottom of the glass. Before a stain formed on the wooden table, I found a napkin and wiped the water away. After that, I went on to my room and turned in the for the night.

_Shun_

The sound of tired shrieking and metal clashing against metal, jolted me awake. I shot up in the hospital bed, looking around frantically for the source of the horrible noise.

My eyes then shot up towards the TV in my room. It was turned on, an action movie was playing and was on the scene of a car crash, along with the fact that the volume was turned up rather loudly. I began to search for the remote, and eventually found it underneath my leg.

_I must have hit the remote and turned the TV on in my sleep, _I thought to myself before turning the TV off. The silence immediately flooding into the room now that the infernal contraption was off. It was only shortly after that I noticed that my hands were trembling. Had the sounds of the crash in that movie really scared me that badly?

Perhaps I had some kind of post-traumatic stress now after the wreck I was in. I laid back down in my hosptial bed, taking in deep breaths to try and calm myself down. Sometime last night, while I had been asleep, the nurses moved me out of the ICU and into a regular room.

They also removed most of the wires and tubes out of my arms, which I was grateful for. Sunlight filtered through the metal blinds in the room, marking the start of another day. And that's just what it felt like; another day. I thought that since what had recently happened to me, I would have felt different.

But things still felt like the same. The heavy wooden door opened, and a doctor stepped in. He was starting to bald, but not enough that it was immediately noticeable. A tag on his coat read _C. Rosenburg._ I then began to wonder how the doctors and nurses in the hospital would react to how quickly I had healed.

They would most certainly be curious. "Morning," Rosenburg said to me without adverting his gaze from his chart. "Morning," I said back to him, but he didn't seem to notice. He was still much too busy going over his chart.

"I'm going to have a nurse come in here soon and look over your injuries. She'll probably rebandage some of them as well. Just letting you know," he told me then left the room, his face still buried in the clipboard. I knew when that nurse saw how my wounds had healed almost overnight, she would become suspicious.

_What do I do? _The nurse then walked into the room, her brown hair tied up into a messy bun that let me know that she probably just woken up. "I'm just going to look at your wounds," she told me flatly. _Really? I had no idea._ She examined the cuts that ran along my arm, or at least, where they had been.

Now, they were gone, leaving on the stitches behind. The nurse raised an eyebrow, looking stumped. She then shook her head and told me, "Let me look at your eye." Carefully, she removed the bandages from the right side of my face, revealing the gift that the car crash had left for me.

"It's healed," she said to herself, sounding completely dumbstuck. I wished that she had rearranged her words some. My eye was nowhere near healed. All that had repaired itself, had been the side of my face, which had left a scar behind. But my eye was completely ruined, unable to see a single thing other than blackness.

The nurse straightened up and cleared her throat to seem professional rather than confused. "I'm going to go retrieve your doctor and let him add in his opinion." She then hurried out of the room, and I heard her calling Rosenburg's name. A deep chuckling then came from beside me.

A chill shot down my spin as I turned and saw Death sitting in the windowsill. I could still not see his face, despite the bright, florescent lighting in the room. All I could see, was the part of his face just beneath his nose. And just like his hands, his face was also human. Or, at least that part of it.

Death allowed a grin to appear on his mouth when he said, "Humans are so oblivious to everything around them." I stared at him then snapped back into focus. "What are you doing here?" I asked him calmly. Even though Death had given my life back to me, I still felt apprehensive around him. It _was _Death, after all.

He was the very thing that people all around the world tried to fight against in order to continue and carry out their lives that they loved so dearly. But in the end, Death would always win. His smile vanished, turning the portion of his face serious.

"I'm here to make sure that you don't end up in a lab experiement somewhere, because people don't just survive a horrific car accident and get up the next day," he told me with his arms crossed. I noticed his scythe was leaning against the wall beside him.

The blade sparkled under the lights, turning something deadly into a thing of beauty. Dr. Rosenburg and his nurse walked into the room, but they did not seem to notice Death looming over me. Rosenburg examined my injuries, finishing with my face last.

"Well, I'll be. You were right, Emily. His injuries are healed," the doctor said with a hint of surprise. Death then slid from the windowsill, and walked behind the doctor and nurse. He raised his human-like hands above their heads and said quietly, "His injuries are healed because they were minor. All he suffered from was a minor concussion."

The doctor and nurse then repeated what Death said, making them seem robotic. "You will tell everyone this," Death added. "Well will tell everyone this," Rosenburg and Emily repeated. I stared at the performance in front of me. He was controlling their minds, making them do and say what he wanted them do.

Death's final command to them was, "He will be released from this place today." His two puppets repeated his words just as they had everything else. Death snapped his fingers, and the doctor and nurse walked out of the room. "You…..You controlled them," I said in shock.

He rubbed his hands together and told me, "That was nothing. Even an inexperienced Reaper can control people. They are lesser beings than Gods of Death, making it an easier task." If humans were lesser beings than Reapers, then that would have made me one before my untimely death.

Had I possibly been controlled without knowing it? The thought that somebody else commanded me, didn't set right. I preferred to be in control of my own body.

Death walked back across the room and grabbed his scythe. "My work is done here for now. I'll contact you later today," he told me. Death grabbed the end of his cloak, and raised it up. A curtain of black shrouded him, but never revealed his body. When the curtain lowered, he was gone.

_Dan_

"What do you mean that you're discharging Shun from the hospital?" I asked, utterly shocked that the hospital had even consented to this. Shun looked like he was about to die yesterday, and now they were just sending him home? His doctor nodded and told us, "His injuries from the crash were minor. The only thing that was wrong with him, was a minor concussion. There is no reason for him to stay at this hospital."

I still couldn't believe what this guy was telling me. My friend was still hurt, and this guy could have cared less. _I should sue him for malpractice, _I thought to myself. The nurse that had been standing silently behind the doctor, spoke up.

She said, "If you don't believe Mr. Rosenburg, go look at your friend for yourselves. He's fine." The nurse also gave us the room and floor number that they had moved Shun to after we left. I didn't hesitate to run up to the room. In fact, I didn't even wait on the elevator, and ran up the three or four flights of stairs.

I found the room number, and swung open the heavy wooden door. Shun was sitting in his hospital bed, reading a book. I stared in disbelief. This couldn't have been the same person from yesterday. Shun had looked like a ghost and was on the edge of death, and now, he looked fine.

The others ran up behind me, panting and trying to catch their breath. Runo snapped at me, "You couldn't have waited for us, Dan?" Shun heard Runo's voice, and looked up from the book he was reading. "Oh, hey, guys," he said, looking surprised to see us standing in the doorway.

I noticed that he had his hair combed over to where it covered his right eye, but I didn't pay it that much attention. I then ran into the room, and lifted up his arm, examining every inch. "What are you doing, Dan?" Shun asked me and snatched his arm away from me.

"These doctors here, they're crazy. They're saying that you're fine and are going home today," I told him and tried to examine his arm again, but he wouldn't let me. "I'm fine, Dan. It was just a small concussion," he told me with the annoyance that was always in his voice.

The others had joined my side, and looked just as surprised as I was when they saw that Shun was looking better than he had yesterday. Alice did one of her trademark smiles and told him, "You had us all so worried, Shun." He smiled at her and said, "Sorry for that. I promise, it won't happen. Ever again."

How could he promise that he'd never get hurt again? Did he think he was immortal now that he had survived a close brush with Death? I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. It didn't matter anymore. Shun was okay, and not dead.

I smiled and asked jokingly, "What's up with the new hairstyle, buddy?" I reached over and moved the hair out from in front of his eye, and saw what was underneath. A scar ran down along his face, and his eye was a grayish-white. Shun hit my hand away from his face and said coldly, "Don't touch me."

The others must have seen his eyes as well, because they appeared to be surprised. Or maybe they were taken aback by Shun's sudden hostility. "Your eye," I said quietly. I recalled the right side of his face being bandaged up yesterday, but I didn't think they injuries were severe enough to where they took his sight from him.

Shun fixed his hair back over the right side of his face, covering the scar and his damaged eye. "Yeah? What about it?" he asked me. I had completely forgotten that I had mentioned something about it.

"Uh, nothing. I just didn't expect that your eye was damaged," I told him, trying to find a way to explain my reasoning to him. Shun made sure that his hair was back where it had been, then told me, "It's alright." At that moment, I couldn't help but feel that there was something different about him.

* * *

**i dont know if i'll get to Southern Hymn today or not. it kind of depends on how i feel. :/ but i thought of the funniest thing yesterday. i was watching Black Butler and thought, "What if Kato was like Sebastian?" i couldnt help but laugh at that image. maybe that's just me though. check out my poll if you havent and read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~**


	3. And Visions Of Death Danced In His Head

_Shun_

The others walked back into my hosptial room. Murucho was carrying one of my bags of luggage that I had brought with me on the way to his house.

The short blonde handed me the bag and said, "This one has your clothes in it. The rest of your stuff is down in the limo with Kato." I took the bag and thanked him, then the others stepped out of the room so I could change out of the hospital's clothes.

I guess that I should have been thankful that Murucho went out of his way to go and retrieve my things from the wreckage that was now my car, but the thought didn't cross my mind at the moment. All that I was focused on, was why I had snapped at Dan earlier.

He had only seen my eye. That wasn't that big of a deal, right? _Then why did I turn it into one?_ I asked myself. I finished getting dressed, feeling much more comfortable. There was a knock on the door, followed by Dan's voice, "You done changing in there?"

I adjusted my hair to where it covered my eye and told him, "Yeah." The five of my friends walked back into my room. How strange must this have seemed to them? When one day I was almost dead, and now, I was standing up like nothing happened.

Murucho clapped his hands together and told me, "Well, all the discharge papers have been taken care of, and Kato's waiting in front of the hospital for us. Shall we go?" I nodded to let him know that I was ready to leave, and our group left out of the room and began to head downstairs.

_Dan_

The sliding doors at the hospital's entrance, slid open and allowed us outside. Like Murucho had said, Kato was waiting by the curb for us, the limo already running and doors open for us to get in. The girls were first to go in, then Murucho.

I went in next and left some room for Shun, but he didn't make a move. He just stood there and stared at the limo. I leaned out of the door and asked him, "You coming with us or not?" He turned to face down the sidewalk and said, "If it's alright with you guys, I'd rather walk back to Murucho's."

I stared at him, confused by his sudden decision. Behind me, Murucho asked him, "Do you think you should be exerting yourself so soon after the accident?" Shun folded his arms across his chest and said flatly, "I'll be fine."

Annoyed now, I got out of the limo and said, "I'm going to walk with you. Murucho, tell Kato he can go on." Shun cut me a cold glare and said harshly, "I don't need somebody watching out for me. I can take care of myself." I was taken aback by his cold words, but my shock quickly wore off.

"Just get in the limo, Shun," I demanded. Why was he making such a big deal about this? Did he just not want to be around the five of us? Or was he still mad at me for earlier when I saw his eye? If that was the case, then he needed to get over it and grow up.

"No. I'm not getting in that limo, and I'm not letting you walk with me," he said in a harsh tone. From in the limo, Murucho was leaning out of the door and said sheepishly, "Dan, just let Shun walk by himself." I stared at Murucho, wondering why he was taking Shun's side.

It was obvious that Shun wasn't thinking straight. Perhaps that so-called 'concussion' had scrambled his brains more than the doctors thought. "Fine," I said with reluctance. Shun nodded his head and began to walk down the sidewalk without saying so much as a word to us.

Hesitating for a moment, I got into the limo with the others and slammed the door closed. "What's his problem?" I asked more to myself than the others, but Murucho didn't catch this, and went ahead to answer my question.

He told me, "Shun's been through something traumatic. He might not want to get into any vehicle so soon after his wreck." A feeling of guilt hit me. "I didn't think about that." Kato put the limo into drive and began the trip back to Murucho's.

_Alice_

Naturally, we beat Shun back to Murucho's by about an hour. He arrived back while Kato was setting the table for lunch. The butler smiled and told him, "Just in time. Lunch is about to be served." Shun nodded, but didn't say anything to the butler.

When Kato called for everyone to come to the dining hall to eat, Shun took a seat that was at the end of the table, which wasn't unusual for him; he always kept distance between him and the others. But this time felt different than before. Why was he acting like this? Had the accident altered him that much?

First, he lost his temper at Dan. Again, that wasn't something new, but it was the way he lost it. His words had been icy cold, almost like a threat. Then, Shun refused to get into the car, and another fight almost broke out between the two.

I believed that Murucho's theory about Shun not wanting to get into a vehicle after his wreck was correct, so I didn't think that it was because of any of us. Kato brought out the plates of food for lunch. Dan, Julie, Runo, Murucho, and I began to eat once the plates were set in front of us.

But Shun didn't even make a move. He just sat there, staring down at the food. He then let out a sigh. Murucho noticed Shun's discontent and asked him, "Is something wrong?" The raven-haired boy pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Just tired. I think I'm going to go up to my room and get some rest." His voice was void of almost any emotion, which left a pang in my chest. I didn't like seeing Shun miserable like this, but what could any of us do? We could suggest the idea of him seeing a therapist, but I knew good and well that he would reject the idea by saying that there was nothing wrong with him.

After that, lunch went by without many words being exchanged. Kato went around the table and asked if everyone was finished. When we told him that we were, he took up our plates and retreated to the kitchen to wash and put them away.

The five of us left the dining hall and went up to our usual sitting area, which also was on the same floor as our rooms that we were staying in during our visit. We sat around on the couches and sofas for a while before I stood up.

Runo asked me, "Where are you going, Alice?" I gave her a slight smile. "I thought I'd check in on Shun for a second," I informed her. Nobody protested against my choice. As I walked down the hall towards the room that Murucho had reserved for Shun, I began to hope that he wouldn't get mad at me for intruding.

When I reached his room, I lightly knocked on the door and awaited an answer. Nothing was said, and I knocked again for good measure, just in case he didn't hear me. Once again, no answer. Figuring that he was asleep, I quietly opened the door and found that my assumption was correct.

He was laying in his bed sound asleep from what I could tell. His hair had fallen off to the side of his face, revealing his injured eye that he had been hiding underneath. I felt bad for Shun. So much had changed for him in such a short amount of time. But I knew that his invisible wounds would slowly start to heal with time. Sighing, I pulled the door closed and went back to the others.

_Shun_

A sound that was similar to that of bird-like wings woke me from my sleep. Still groggy from just waking up, I sat up and looked around my room. As my good eye scanned the area, I didn't see anything. But a glimpse of black caught my sight, and I turned to find Death standing beside my bed.

I jumped and said, "Give a guy a warning next time you pop into his room, will ya?" A sly grin appeared on Death's face. "My bad," he said. I could still only see his mouth and bottom part of his nose; the rest of his face was still shrouded in darkness and mystery like before.

I fixed my messed up hair and asked him, "What are you doing in here anyway?" I was starting to grow somewhat annoyed with Death's sudden appearances. _A little privacy might be appreciated._ Death crossed his arms over his chest and said in a monotone voice, "I told you that I'd contact you later today, did I not?"

His previous visit in my hospital room had slipped my mind completely. And just as he had promised, he was contacting me. Out one of my room's windows, I saw that the sun was setting below the buildings. Was it already nearing nighttime?

I found it hard to believe that I had been asleep for such a long time, but it was possible. Death pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against and said, "Alright, get up." I stared at him, clearly confused. "Get up? We're going somewhere?" Death sighed.

"You asked an awful lot of questions." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me out from the warmth of my bed; thankfully, I had fallen asleep in my clothes, so I was at least decent. Death snapped his fingers and a black mist began to rise up from the floor and engulf us.

Before I even had the chance to ask what he was doing, much less freak out, the mist turned everything black. When it began to disperse, I found myself outside somewhere in the city. "Uh," was all I could say. It was difficult for me to put what just happened into words.

Death explained to me, "If you're to be a Reaper, then you know how to Reap. I'm just going to show you an example." He was going to show me how to take somebody's soul? "I don't know if-" He cut me off and interrupted my statement.

"Don't worry. This person is supposed to die tonight. I'm not just killing some random bystander." That wasn't what I was going to mention to him, but the thought was on my mind; I didn't want to witness an innocent person die. What I was going to say, was that I wasn't sure if I wanted to know how.

I knew it was I had signed up for, but I felt like it was still too early to be thrown into this. Death started to walk down the sidewalk, and I chased after him. People passed right by us, not even paying attention to the shady, cloaked figure. The only thing I could figure out, was that they couldn't see him.

As if he had heard my thoughts, he told me, "The cloak makes myself invisible from the eyes of humans. You'll have to wear one when you begin to Reap souls." I didn't add in a comment. It was still weird how he was talking about taking souls as if it weren't a big deal.

Maybe I would feel the same way after a while. _Stop over thinking this, Shun. _I was alive, and given a second chance. There wasn't much I could complain about. No. There wasn't _anything _I should complain about. If I didn't want to do this, then I would have just let myself die.

But had I really been thinking when I accepted Death's offer? What if I had been too focused on living to really register anything that he had told me. It was too late now. The deal was done, and nothing could be changed about it. We stopped walking, and now stood in front of a nursing home.

Death pointed over to a window and said, "Stand in front of that one and watch." I did as he told me. When I reached the windows, I had to stand on my toes in order to see inside. Laying in a bed, with an oxygen mask on her face, was an old lady. _He's going to kill a little old woman? _I thought to myself.

Death slipped into the room by passing through the wall. He stood before the old woman. His scythe formed in his hand, and he swung it like a batter swinging at a baseball. The blade cut into her stomach, but no blood was shed. In fact, there wasn't even a scratch on her.

Instead, I watched as her soul was pulled from her body, and passed into a portal. The machines that were hooked up to her, began to flatline. Nurses and caregivers ran into the room and tried to bring the woman back, but they wouldn't be able to.

Like Death told me, this person was meant to die today. And when I thought about, this woman looked like she might have been suffering. Perhaps dying was a better alternative for her than living. Death passed through the wall and joined me outside of the window.

"Now, that didn't look so bad, did it?" he asked me. I shook my head, and Death began to walk again. I followed behind him, thinking about how humane the Reaping of souls was. _Maybe I was wrong about this. _It didn't look as bad as it was made out to be.

In a way, it was like helping end a person's suffering by sending them somewhere else. Night fell on the city while we were walking. Curious, I asked, "What are we doing now?" A grin formed on Death's darkened face when he said, "Just enjoying the night."

Was it strange for a being of Death to enjoy the night? The sidewalks and streets thinned of their crowds, only leaving behind the night-owls. When we passed an alley, I thought I heard singing. It sounded like somebody chanting, _Reap their souls, Reap their souls. Where they go, only I will know._

I stopped and looked into the dark passageway, but saw nothing. "What's the matter?" Death asked me. "Thought I heard something," I replied. Then, I saw the sparkle of metal out of the shadows and person ran out of the alley. His hair was messy, covered with dirt and knots; it probably hadn't seen water in months.

Due to the dirt, I couldn't tell what color his hair actually was. The man's eyes were wide, almost mad looking. The smile he wore, matched the overall insane appearance of him. This man must have escaped from an hospital somewhere. But my theory was disproved when I saw what he held in his boney hands; a scythe.

_This guy's a Reaper? _He was either that, or a homicidle maniac on the loose. Beside me, Death grinned and said, "Why, hello, Grim. I didn't expect to see you here." This 'Grim' character snickered and said, "I can say the same for you, Death. Who's your little friend?"

Grim ran up to my face and began to examine me. Somewhat disturbed, I tried to back away, but he kept getting closer. "Grim, give the boy some space. He's new to all of this," Death told his 'friend.' Grim backed away some, but not enough for my liking. He stunk of filth and garbage, almost enough to make me gag.

His clothes were tattered and torn, covered with dirt and some kind of black stains. But when I looked closer, I noticed that they appeared to be from another time. Perhaps the late 1800s or early 1900s. Death cleared his throat and turned to me.

"This is Grim. He's been a Reaper for quite some time." Grim jumped into the conversation and said loudly, "And quite a good one at that!" If he had been in the Reaping business for a long time, then his clothing would make sense. Grim's smile vanished, and he got near my face once again. His insane eyes narrowed and began to look intently.

"Wh-what's he doing?" I asked Death, hoping for an explaination to this man's strange behavior. All Death did, was shrug his shoulders. Then, in one quick and fluent motion, Grim flicked his wrist and tossed my hair to side, uncovering my face.

I stared at him, knowing my eyes were wide with shock. His hand hovered near my face, and his wicked smile returned. He seemed to be totally engrossed with my scar and injured eye. "That's quite a scar you've got there. You know, I just love looking at scars. They tell me stories."

Grim then held out his index finger, and ran his long fingernail down the ragged path of my scar. I was frozen in place, my brain unable to understand what was happening. "You died in a car wreck. Interesting," he said while making his observation.

I snapped back to my senses and slapped the Reaper's hand away from my face. "Get your filthy hands off of me, freak!" I shouted. Grim took a step back, and a grin slowly formed on his lips. He then threw his head back and laughed. "You've got one with spunk this time, Death. I like spunk in a Reaper. Maybe you should let me borrow him sometime," Grim said while wiping a tear of laughter from his mad eyes.

I turned to look at Death; he only shrugged. "Maybe. Don't you have work to do, Grim?" The crazy Reaper let out a huff of air and said, "No. Work has been slow. Why must people live so long nowadays?" Grim then turned to face me and asked, "So, little Reaper, how do you see people who are about to die?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, still apprehensive about him laying his fingers on me. Death stepped in and said, "He doesn't know yet." Grim acted like he was shocked, then began to laugh once again. "Perhaps he'll be like me and hear the voices of those who are about to die! Oh, how exciting! You must tell me if he can when you find out, Death!"

Grim acted like a small child who was excited after getting a new toy. I found it all quite disturbing. He _heard _their voices? "I'll let you know, Grim. Now, we must be on our way," Death told him as if he were speaking to a good friend. Perhaps he was. But Death having a friend?

It sounded strange. Grim pouted and said, "Fine. See you around, little Reaper!" He began to skip back down the alley he jumped out from, but then stopped and turned around. He pointed his boney finger at me and said smoothly, "Don't hide that pretty scar of your's. It separates your from everyone else, and tells your story. One should never hide who they are."

His calm and cool composure was short lived, and he began to skip back down the alley. Then, I heard him singing, "Reap their souls! Reap their souls! Where they go, only I will know!" I stood there, completely unable to think about what just went on before me.

Death placed his cold hand on my shoulder and told me, "Let's keep moving." As we continued to walk down the sidewalk, I said, "Please tell me that I won't ever have to look forward to turning into whatever _he _was."

Death did not smile; he only wore a serious expression from what I could see. "It all depends," he said. Confused, I asked, "On what?" His face was unreadable when he told me, "How long you'll stay sane."

_Shun_

Death teleported me back to my room at Murucho's, then left without so much as a goodbye. _Doesn't let you know when he's going to show up, or leave. Sounds about right. _I was utterly drained from energy. The day had worn me out, leaving me exhausted.

I sighed, and stepped into my bathroom, where I proceeded to splash some cool water on my face. The thought that somebody might have noticed my absence, didn't cross my mine; all I wanted to do was sleep. I brought my face up, and looked into the mirror.

My eye was visible through my wet hair. I thought about what Grim had told me; that my scar was what separated me from everyone else. "What's that even supposed to mean," I asked myself with aggravation. I then chuckled. "Probably nothing….Crazy old Reaper."

A wave of vertigo then hit me, and I had to hold onto the sink to keep my balance. Then, an intense pain shot through my right eye, causing me to gasp and drop to my knees. I clutched the right side of my face, tears already pouring from the pain.

A scream escaped my mouth, and images danced before my vision. They showed a man and woman in an alley; the man was carrying a gun and had the woman cornered. He raised the gun up to her head, and the vision ended right there, leaving me in a daze. I leaned back against the wall of the bathroom and blacked out.

* * *

**Southern Hymn will probably be updated Satuday. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow, homecoming parade thursday, and football game friday. o.o busy busy busy. check out my poll too! read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~**


	4. Where Death Goes, Death Follows

_Alice_

Shun had been up in his room for quite some time now; since yesterday at noon. Now, it was nearing up on that time once again, and there hadn't been so much as a sight of him. Perhaps I was overreacting to nothing, but I couldn't help but worry. No matter how okay Shun said he was, I still felt that he wasn't well.

Dan, with his arms crossed over his chest, said sarcastically, "I wonder when Sleeping Beauty is going to decide to wake up." Runo shot him a curt look, and he muttered a silent apology. I spoke up and told them, "I'll go and check on him if you guys want me to."

Nobody protested against my suggestion, so I got up and went to go check in on him. During the time it took me to walk down the hall from the sitting area, I kept hoping that I wouldn't find Shun passed out on the floor or something. When I reached his room, I gently knocked on the door to signal that I was outside.

Just like yesterday when I checked in on him, there was no answer. To double-check, I knocked again and got the same results. So, I opened the door and stepped on inside. His bedroom was empty, the sheets and blankets on his bed tossed aside. "Shun?" I asked and began to look around for him.

"Are you in here?" I got to the door to his bathroom, and felt my eyes widen. Shun was passed out on the tile floor, completely out cold. Panicked, I rushed over to his side and knelt beside him. "Shun! Wake up!" I was shaking his shoulder rather roughly, but I was determined to got him to wake up, or show me some form of life.

My hand touched an exposed part of his arm, and I was surprised by how cold his skin was. It was almost like ice, but I attributed it to the fact that he had been laying on the cold, tile floor for no telling how long. Shun muttered a quiet noise, and his eyes opened slightly.

_Thank goodness._ He groaned and tried to sit up, but I refused to let him move. "No. You stay here while I go get Dan or somebody else to help get you up," I told him softly. Shun, who still looked somewhat out of it, only nodded. I ran out of the bathroom, through his room, and back down the hall to the others.

When I reached the sitting room that they were all gathered in, they turned their heads to look at me. With my panicked and worried expression that I knew I had, I must have looked a site. My eyes shot over to Dan and I said quickly, "Dan, I need your help."

Confusion swept over the room, leaving everyone lost about what was going on. Murucho stood up from his seat and asked, "What's going on, Alice? Is everything alright with Shun?" My hands fidgeted with each other. "I found him on the floor of his room, completely unconscious. I was able to wake him up though, but I don't want him moving. So, I need somebody's help to get him back in his bed."

Expressions shifted from confused to concerned when they learned about how I had found Shun. Dan stood from his seat and said, "Then why are we just standing here?" He walked past me, grabbing my hand as he went by, and pulling me down the hall. I caught a glimpse of the faces of the others before they vanished as I went further down the hall; they looked confused, and worried.

Dan and I reached Shun's room once more, and I pointed towards the bathroom that I had left Shun in. We hurried over to the room, and saw Shun was still there. But unlike when I first found him, he was awake this time. He was sitting on the tiled floor, his back leaning against the wall.

Even though he was conscious, it still felt like he was still disoriented. Dan and I went over to Shun, and proceeded to help him up. I would have thought that somebody like Shun would have weighed more, but he was surprisingly light. Once more, I came in contact with his arm, and felt the icy coldness that seemed to radiat from him.

Why was he so cold? The tile floor remained as my only explaination. Dan and I laid Shun down on his bed and Dan asked him, "What happened, Buddy?" Shun ran a hand over his face, his fingers combing through his bangs and showing a quick glimpse of his injured eye.

"Guess…..I was more tired than…..than I thought," he said softly, almost breathlessly. I asked him, "Do we need to call an ambulance or somebody to come and make sure you're okay?" I knew the answer that I was going to get, but I felt as if I had to ask anyway.

Shun shook his head. "No…..I'm fine….Just…..Just tired." Dan and I exchanged looks with each other; it was clear that neither one of us believed Shun's lie. "If you say so, Shun," Dan said, "let's let him get some rest, Alice." I nodded and the two of us left the room.

When we returned to the others, Murucho was the first to speak to us. "Is he okay? Do I need Kato to call the hospital?" I shook my head to let him know that that wouldn't be necessary.

"Dan and I already asked him if we needed to contact a doctor for him, and Shun said there was no need. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, but if this continues, then I think he needs to go back to the hospital."

Murucho rubbed his hands together, as if thinking this over. Runo jumped into the conversation and said, "I second Alice's suggestion. If Shun doesn't show any signs of recovering, then he needs to go back."

Julie, Murucho, and Dan also agreed after that. I knew sending Shun back to that hospital would be going against his wishes, but his stubborness would end up being the death of him if he kept up this charade.

_Shun_

Everything was hazy and blurred when Alice woke me from my state of unconsciousness. She wouldn't let me get up and insisted that I remained where I was while she went and got Dan. Since I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, I did as she told me and waited.

As I sat against the wall, I racked my brain for anything that would let me know why I was so out of it. But I was unable to focus thanks to a dull and pulsating pain that radiated from the right side of my face. My first thought was that I had something like a stroke, but it then occurred to me that a stroke could not be the reason for that; I was already dead as it was.

_Dead._ A cascade of images returned to my memory. It showed me the woman and man in an alley, and the gun in the man's hand. Why had I seen that? Was that how I knew when people were about to die? I saw what would happen to them?

_No, I didn't see anything, _I thought to myself with a hint of denial. Why was I denying this though? I was a Reaper now, right? This should be normal for me. Perhaps it was because I wasn't quite used to the whole thing yet, and that made me want to believe that I didn't see somebody's death before my eyes.

Dan and Alice returned to my side, and helped me back to my bed. I had long snapped out of my disoriented state as I woke from my unconsciousness, but I had put myself into a new zone-out state when I remembered what had caused me to black out.

I was laid down in my bed, and was asked several questions by Dan and Alice. I played them off as being really tired. Although I knew they weren't buying my lies, they let the topic stop there and left out of my room. I laid in my bed and sighed. _So it begins…_

_Alice_

I was surprised to see Shun walk into the sitting room where we all had been residing in; I was sure that he would have been in his bed for a longer amount of time, seeing as to how out of it he had been in the hours prior.

He didn't look utterly lost like he had been. In fact, since he had gotten out of the hospital the other day, he kind of looked like Shun. Murucho asked him, "Shun, do you think you should be walking around right now?" I didn't blame Murucho for his concern; I was actually thinking the same thing.

Shun stuck his hands into his pockets and told the blonde, "I feel fine now. Guess I just needed a little bit more rest to recharge." His voice wasn't dragging and lagging behind like it had been when Dan and I helped him into his bed.

He then began to walk towards the door that led out of the sitting room. Dan stopped him by asking, "Where do you think you're going?" Shun turned around and said calmly, "Out." That was all he said before he left Murucho's; he didn't even give any of us a chance to stop him or say another word.

_Shun_

I thought that I wouldn't have gotten more resistance from the others when I told them I was going out. Perhaps I might have if I stuck around for a little bit longer, but I needed to get out of that place. For some reason, I was craving the need for fresh air.

Maybe it was because I felt that the air would help clear my jumbled mind from the recent images of death that had invaded my sanity. When I cleared the doors of Murucho's mansion, I realized how late in the day it was; a couple hours past noon to be exact.

As I walked down the streets, I looked at each person I passed, feeling as though they might be the two people that I saw in my 'vision.' But none of them were, and I only got looks of confusion as to why I was looking at people. "You look a bit stressed."

I jumped and turned around to see Death standing behind me. Somehow, I felt that under that black hood of his, his face showed an expression of amusement. Maybe it was that sly grin that was visible on his face that made me think that, but that was only a guess.

People walked right by, unable to see my uninvited guest thanks to his cloak. Death began to circle around me, and I felt his eyes examining me. "You've seen a death, have you not?" he asked me. I chuckled nervously and told him, "What? I don't know what you're talking about."

Why was I denying this? It made no sense to me. Then, it occurred to me that I thought that I might not be ready to take a person's soul. Even though Death showed me that it was completely painless, there was still that psychological feeling that nothing about it was right.

Death stopped circling me and stood before me. "You can't lie to Death, my friend," he said to me. "I know just by looking at you that you've seen death. Just from the way you're talking and acting, I know. So, how did it happen?" I tilted my head to the side and said, "How did what happen?"

People that walked by, gave me strange looks when they saw that I was talking to nobody. Death's smile disappeared when he said, "How did you see the death? How did it occur?" I thought about the pain I felt on the right side of my face, and how it had been followed by the foggy images.

"I saw it," I told him, feeling like I wasn't exactly answering his question. But Death seemed to understand what I told him, because he nodded. "In other words, you saw the death take place in a vision. Do you know when it will happen?" I shook my head. All I saw, was the events taking place.

The only thing I recalled, was that it was in an alley at night. But there were hundreds of alleys in the city, and there was no way to tell which night this would take place. It wasn't like there had been a calendar in the background when all of this happened. Death placed his cold hand on my shoulder and said with a sigh, "Well, I guess you'll cross that bridge when you get there."

After he said that, I saw a figure running towards us. He wore a black, tattered cloak like the one that Death had on. The figure was waving his hand way above his head and shouting, "Death, my friend! There you are!" When he got closer, I saw that it was Grim.

A shiver went down my spine when that realization, and I backed up somewhat behind Death so I could have something between me and that lunatic. Grim stopped in front of Death, and I caught wind of his foul stench. "Hello, again, Grim," Death said in a corgial tone.

The crazy Reaper craned his neck to look at me. "Oh, I see you have your little Reaper with you. How wonderful! Do tell me if he knows how he sees deaths now! It's been gnawing at me since last night!" Death grinned, and I felt his eyes fall on me.

"Aren't you a lucky one, Grim. He just informed me that he sees in visions how the deaths happen," he told the mad Reaper. An expression of disappointment washed over Grim's face. "Darn! I was hoping he was like me! Do you know what it's like being the only one to hear the voices of those about to die?" Grim whined like a child that didn't get what he wanted.

Death held up a nonchalant hand and said, "No, I wouldn't know how that feels, Grim." Grim shot a sharp look at Death, then ran around and joined my side. I jumped back some in order to put space between us. His lip suddenly formed into a pout. "You're still hiding that scar, little Reaper," he said in a sad tone.

"I thought you would have taken what I said to heart, but I must have been wrong. Oh, well. Perhaps you'll come around eventually." Grim then froze in his place and looked around. A wicked smile formed on his crazed face. "The voices! They're calling me again! Oh, goody!" he shouted and clapped his hands together.

"Gotta run, Death! Work's calling me!" Grim ran off after that, and I heard him singing his little song, _"Reap their souls. Reap their souls. Where they go, only I will know." _I shook my head and began to walk down the sidewalk. Death hurried after me and asked, "Where are you going?"

I stopped and abruptly turned on my heel so I could face him. "I went on this walk so I could get away from some of this madness and clear my thoughts, but all it has done is make things worse!" I shouted in the middle of the sidewalk. People stared at me on hurried on by, clearly thinking I had lost my mind.

Maybe I had. Maybe all of this was just a figment of my imagination, and none of this was real. But even I knew that was a lie. Death, without a smile anywhere on his face, said to me, "This is a game of death. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, it will always follow you. You know why? Because you _are _Death. And where Death goes, Death follows."

I hung my head low, staring at the concrete sidewalk below. He was right. It didn't matter what I did now. This was what my life would be centered around. I glanced over to my right and found myself looking down an alley. A familiar feeling washed over me, and I quickly realized that this was the alley that I saw in my vision.

"This is the place," I said to myself, completely forgetting that Death was right beside me. He asked, "Do you know at what time of the day this death took place?" I nodded and told him, "At night." He folded his arms over his chest and gave one, quick nod.

"Alright, then. We shall meet up here every night, until the contents on your vision become reality. Come here the moment the sun sets so you'll be ready. Don't be late." Death vanished into his cloud of black mist, and left me standing in front of the alley that would soon become the setting of a murder.

* * *

**sorry for not being earlier. i slept in REALLY late because i was flat-out exhausted from last night's football game. then, i went to the Celtic Fest about an hour after i woke up. o.o but i had a lot of fun. X3 read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~**


	5. Frozen

_Shun_

I didn't stray far from the alley due to the worry that I would miss what was about to happen. To make it not look like I was doing something suspicious, I stayed seated on a bench a faw yards away, and stared at the screen of my phone. As I gazed down at the home screen, my phone lit up to let me know that I was receiving a call.

The caller ID showed Dan's name, and his number underneath. _They're probably wondering where I am and if I'm alright, _I thought to myself as I rejected the call. Sure, Dan would probably be mad at me for not answering him, but I was positive that he would get over it sooner or later.

_Besides, it's not like I can tell them what I'm up to._ The streetlamps came to life around me the moment the sun fell behind the horizon. I stood up from the bench and caught a glimpse of something black leaping across the rooftops.

When I saw the black cloak, I knew who it was; Death was going to the alley to meet up with me. I turned and hurried back down the street, and found myself faced with the alley once again. Thanks to the darkness of night, I could hardly see ten feet in front of me, even with the help of the streetlamps.

"Up here," a voice called from above. I looked up and saw Death standing on the edge of a roof. Using my ninja skills, I scaled the wall with ease and joined his side. "I'm here. Now what?" I asked as I gazed down into the black abyss below.

Death crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Now, we wait to see what happens." The two of us had to have sat there on that roof for three hours. Fatigue was starting to get to me, and it took all the fight I had in me to refrain from falling asleep; Death just stood there, as if the late hour wasn't bothering him the least bit.

It probably wasn't. Why would Death sleep? Right when I was about to give into my bodily needs and fall asleep, I heard the clicking of heels on the ground. When I looked down, I saw a woman running down the alley. Through the shadows, I caught a quick glimpse of her face, and immediately recognized her.

"That's her," I blurted out without realizing it. The woman ran into the dead-end of the alley, completely trapped. _It's just like my dream. _The figure of a man then ran down the alley, and pinned the woman against the brick wall that was keeping her trapped in this place.

A human urge overtook me, and I wanted to go down there and stop what was about to happen. Death held his arm out, stopping me from going to the woman's aid. "No. Let things play out," he told me calmly. I relaxed a bit and stayed put, all while fighting that urge to stop what I knew was about to happen.

I heard the sound of a gun being loaded and cocked, along with the terrified sobs of the soon-to-be victim. The woman was begging the man to have mercy on her, but he only shouted at her. The darkness hid their facial expressions from me, but I had a rough estimate of what they looked like; the man would have an expression of anger, while the woman's face was streaked with tears.

I shut my eyes and braced myself to hear the sound of a gunshot, but it never came. Instead, I heard a gurgling sound, followed by the sound of a body falling onto the ground. The woman's sobs became less frequent. She said with caution, "Jim?"

Confused, I turned to Death for an answer. He remained calm and cool when he said, "Sometimes death is unpredictable. One can never be too sure about who they think is going to die. Here, you might need this soon." Death held out his hand and a black cloak appeared out of thin air.

I stared at it for a moment before taking it from him. Was this really happening? Was I really about to do this? I tossed the cloak on. The black fabric draped down to my feet, hiding almost all of my body. Death lifted the hood of the cloak up and pulled it over my head.

Now, I was completely covered. He stepped back and looked me over. "Nice fit, if I do say so myself," he mused. I raised an eyebrow as I examined myself. "Alright, we got the cloak out of the way. Won't I need….You know….A scythe?" I asked. Death chuckled and told me, "Yes. That might help you out down there. Here, take mine."

His scythe appeared in the palm of his hand, and he tossed the tool at me. I caught it, surprised by the weight that came along with the metal blade. I gazed at my reflection in the razor-sharp blade, wondering how I even remotely looked like I was a Reaper. All I looked like, was some confused and scared kid in a cloak.

Death cleared his throat, grabbing a hold of my attention. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go down there and do your job." I took in a deep breath, and jumped down into the dark alley. Now that I was closer to the scene, I was able to see through the darkness.

The woman was knelt beside the once gun-carrying man; his body now laid on the ground, completely motionless. Why had he died? All of the evidence suggested that the woman would be the one to die tonight, not the man. She was still by the man's side, crying over his body.

I then noticed something that I hadn't when I first saw my vision; the woman was littered with bruises. _She's been abused. _I turned my attention back to the man, who had to be her abuser. Then why was she crying over him? She should have been happy and relieved that she was finally free of his violent ways.

"Jim, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," she said between sobs. She was sorry? For what? It wasn't like she did anything to him from what I could tell. There were no wounds or anything on the man's body; no proof that she had caused him any harm. I suddenly felt Death's pressence behind me.

"I'm working on it," I told him without tearing my gaze from the scene. "Alright. If you say so," he mused. "You know what to do, Reaper. So, do it." My hands tightened around the tall handle of the scythe, and I raised the blade up and behind my head, as if getting ready to take a swing at a baseball with a bat.

I shut my eyes tightly, and let the blade arc through the air and cut into the man's side. His soul was torn from the body, and now stood before me. Then, the alley around me and him vanished and I saw images of his life playing like a movie in fast-forward. _What's going on? _I asked myself.

The man's soul looked around at the images, and I thought I saw a flash of sadness in his eyes. This was his life, and it was literally flashing before his eyes. The images turned from him when he was younger, to more recent memories.

They showed him being abusive and violent to many people; including the woman that he recently tried to kill a moment ago. In my ear, I heard Death's voice say, "This is all of his memories. It shows you how he lived his life, and is a means to help you determine where he goes after death."

From what I could gather, this man had done more bad than good. So, he deserved punishment, right? As the last of his memories vanished, he turned towards me. The expression on his face suggested that he just realized that I was there. "Wh-what's going to h-happen to me?" he studdered.

I bit my lower lip and swung the scythe. The blade cut into the ground, tearing a portal open. Flames rose up and grabbed the man's soul and drug him down into the pit. The hole then closed, and the alley returned around me. A sick feeling was left in my stomach after what had just happened, but I had no choice.

As Death had told me before, I would decide whether a soul went to Heaven or Hell. And looking back on all that that man had done, he did not deserve the better of the two. The woman was still kneeling over her dead husband's body, crying even harder now.

I lowered my hood down to hide more of my face; I was completely and utterly ashamed of what I had just done. "You have no reason to hide," Death told me from behind. "He got what was coming to him." He joined my side, gazing down at the woman and man's body.

"He died from a pre-existing heart condition. Strange how it picked this exact moment to kick in and take his life. But, death works in mysterious ways." Death mused his last sentence, wearing a sly grin afterwards. He then swung his cloak up, making the fabric engulf both me and him.

When the cloak lowered down, I found that we were standing outside of Murucho's mansion. I stared up at the massive structure, then turned back to Death. He was looking up at it as well, as if pondering how such a thing could exist. It then dawned on me that I still held his scythe.

"Um, I think this is your's," I said while handing it back to him. Death grinned and pushed the bladed weapon back at me. I stared at him, confused as to why he wouldn't take his scythe back. "You keep it, Reaper. I've been meaning to try out a new scythe of my creation now."

He raised his hand out into the air, and a black mist started to take shape into a long, bladed weapon. When the mist vanished, it left behind a new scythe. The blade was longer, curving into a wicked claw. The handle, was blood red, and looked kind of like a cross between vines and veins.

They ran their wicked, finger-like apendages onto the blade, making it appear like they were what was holding the thing together. Overall, it held a terrifying beauty behind it, but not like his previous scythe, which was now mine. His old one, was simplistic and held a different form of intimidation.

This one, was meant to look fearsome, and that it did. "You like it? It's one of my own design. Completely mine alone," he said with pride. He then turned back to me and said calmly, "Take care of my old scythe, will you? I'm sure you will. Don't forget to take off your cloak before going inside. Now, I must bid you farewell for now."

He threw his cloak up and vanished. I stood outside of Murucho's for a while longer, then decided to go inside. But right when I was about to take off the cloak and step through the front doors, I heard a snickering from across the street. Slowly, Grim emerged from the darkness.

"I just adore Death's new toy. Don't you, little Reaper?" he asked with a cackle. Not sure what to say, I only nodded as a response. Grim ran across the street and joined me at my side. Immediately, I caught a whiff of his stinch. Grim suddenly began to smile madly.

"I'm so proud of you, little Reaper. Taking your first soul. It's truly a special occasion for you!" I took a step back and said with caution, "Listen, I don't know what your problem is, but I would like it if you left me alone." Grim pretended to act flattered and chuckled.

"That's another thing I like about you, little Reaper. You have plenty of fire where your soul used to be. That alone is so hard to come by these days." He hissed his words that ended with 's' into my ear, making me flinch away from him. This only made him cackle with more laughter.

Grim suddenly went from standing in front of me, to being at my right side without me so much as seeing his movements. He lifted his hand and pulled my hair out from in front of my eye like he had the first time I met him. I tried to slap his hand away again, but he stopped me by grabbing onto my wrist.

"Ha! I've learned how you react, little Reaper!" I stared at him, a shiver going up my arm from my wrist that he was holding onto. His eyes narrowed at me, and his voice changed from ragged to smooth as silk. "Now, if you hide that scar anymore, then I'm sorry for what I might do to you," he practically purred. "Your scar is just too pretty to hide from this world. Why do you insist to keep it hidden?"

I didn't realize that I was shivering until now. Was I cold? No, I felt fine. Maybe it was because of Grim's threat that he just made if I continued to hide my scar. What would he do to me if I continued to keep my face hidden? I made a decision then and there, not to find out.

"I-I…..Don't k-know," I studdered out to answer his question. Grim ran one of his long fingernails down my scar and said, "Now knowing isn't a good enough reason to keep this away from the world. Would you hide the Mona Lisa without a reason? No. I didn't think so," he whispered.

I was afraid to move from my spot. What would this lunatic do if I did? Grim then released his hold on me, and I felt like ice around me began to thaw the moment his hand let go of my wrist. I stepped back, feeling awkward and confused now.

Grim gave me a devilish smile and said, "You like that, little Reaper? I made sure you weren't going to fight back against me while I tried to get my point across, so I used my powers to imobilize you. You should see your face, little Reaper!"

His smooth voice went back to one that belonged to a person that needed to be in a mental institute. Grim began to walk away, never turning around to face his back to me. He wiggled a finger and said in a playful tone, "Remember, little Reaper. Don't hide your scar, or else!"

He then turned around and started to skip down the street until he vanished into the shadows. I didn't have to hear him to know that he was singing his little song. _"Reap their souls. Reap their souls. Where they go, only I will know." _I took in a shaky breath, and repositioned my hair to how it had been before I started to hide my eye.

I cared less about the appearance of my right eye. Now, I was more scared about what Grim would do to me if I didn't do as he said. Once that was done, I took off my cloak and dematerialized the scythe that Death had given to me.

How I knew how to do that, I wasn't entirely sure, but at this point, I no longer cared. I took in a deep breath and went inside of the mansion like I was about to do before Grim had interrupted me.

* * *

_Chapter title based off the song Frozen by Within Temptation. _**aye, i had a long day. doctor appointment, then i went to FINALLY take my permit test and i passed! woo! even though i missed six questions, and you can't miss more than six, or else you fail. so, i just did squeeze by. X) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~**


	6. Heavy Payments

_Alice_

The five of us were just about to turn in for the night after several hours of waiting for Shun to return back to Murucho's. We were all trying to stay positive, and not think the worst of the possibilities; such as trying not to wonder if Shun had passed out again.

I still remember how out of it he had been when I discovered him unconscious; it was still a total mystery to us as to why he had passed out. Perhaps he had been telling the truth when he said that he was just really tired. But to the extent that you collapse?

Something about that idea didn't fit together quite right. What if the doctors really had been wrong about what happened to Shun? I hated to think that something terrible might happen to him because of a misdiagnosis. Just as I was about to join the others and go to bed, Shun walked into the lobby of Murucho's mansion.

He looked slightly on edge, but that was normal for him. I noticed that his hair was styled back the way that it had been before his wreck. Now, the right side of his face was no longer hidden. _I wonder why he's not covering it up anymore. _Was it really that big of a deal?

Perhaps he finally realized that the scar was there to stay, and no amount of hiding it would change that. I was about to open my mouth and say something, but Dan pushed past me and said in an aggravated tone, "Shun, where in the world have you been?

Do you have any idea what time it was and how worried we were?" I applauded Dan for being the concerned friend, but the sudden change in Shun's demeanor made me feel that his being upfront about his worry was a bad idea.

Shun narrowed his eyes and asked, "Does it matter where I've been? Last time I checked, I didn't have to have a tab kept on my wearabouts." Dan matched Shun's narrowed eyes, creating a staring contest between the two.

Before things got ugly, I stepped in the middle of the two and said with a nervous laugh, "Calm down, guys. Shun, we're all just glad to know that nothing happened to you. Can you blame us for worrying after what's gone on the past couple of days?"

I was hoping that Shun could see it from our point of view; he had just been in a horrible car wreck, and close to dying. The least he could do is see that we were still concerned about his health. Shun sighed. "I guess you have a point. Sorry."

Behind me, I heard Dan let out a huff of air and heard him say something like, _"Be nice to her, huh? I see where I stand." _I hoped that Shun didn't hear his smart remark, or else to two might have gone back to each others throats. But if Shun had heard what his friend said, he didn't react to it.

Instead, he walked past our little group and towards his room. "Um, goodnight?" I mumbled to myself when he walked by. A shiver shot down my spine when he brushed by my arm, as if the air conditioner kicked in at that moment.

But I looked up and saw that I was standing nowhere near a vent, and I didn't hear the air conditioner system running either; I wasn't cold either. The chill was gone almost as immediately as it had appeared, leaving me to think than it was nothing more than my body thinking it was cold. After that, the five of us left for our rooms to retire for the night.

_Shun_

I locked the door behind me and let out a heavy sigh. I hadnt meant to make the others worry about me, but I couldn't tell them what I was up to and why I was gone for such a long time. How was I supposed to know that I would have to perform a Reaping _that _day?

All I knew was that it would take place at night. Regardless, I hadnt left Murucho's with the intentions of taking someone's soul; I had gone out for some fresh air in hopes of clearing my mind. But Death's unexpected arrival ruined my plans.

_That seems to be what Death does best….Ruin plans, _I thought to myself as I reached over and flipped on the lightswitch. The room suddenly became covered with light, chasing away the darkness that had once been in control.

Perhaps it was just a bad habit now, but I looked around the room, expecting to see Death standing somewhere. But much to my surprise, he was nowhere in sight. "Here's hoping I get a break from him for a while."

Slowly, I made my way over to my bed and sat down, then fell back onto the mattress. My body relaxed now that I was lying down, and I finally realized how tired I was. _Who knew this job would take so much out of a guy?_

_Dan_

It frustrated me that Shun was completely oblivious to what was going on around him; it was almost like he was in his own little world. He was acting like everything was fine and as if he hadn't been in a wreck a couple of days ago. It made me worry, how he was acting, that is.

But Shun was so absorbed in something else, the thought didn't seem to occur to him about how close to certain disaster he had been, or the fact that the rest of us were still concerned about the state of his health. What if this was because of his wreck though?

Maybe he was in denial over the whole ordeal. Like Murucho had mentioned the day that Shun got out of the hospital, he might have developed an irrational fear of cars thanks to all of this. What if it wasn't any different? What if Shun was denying that the wreck ever happened?

My head began to hurt with all the thinking I was doing, so I sat down on my bed and rubbed circles on the sides of my temples. I felt like I was overthinking the whole thing. Shun was probably just going through a rough patch and would be over this in no time, like always.

I laid back on my bed and stared up at my ceiling fan, watching as the blades spun around slowly. "When did everything get so complicated?" I asked to myself, or more like the fan. It only spun around, not responding to my question. I shut my eyes and sighed.

It boggled my mind how almost four days ago, things were so normal; the thought of what was going on now, wasn't on anyone's mind. All that we could focus on, was the celebration of being reunited with each other. Now, it all felt like a struggle to hold the seams together.

And I truly believed that it would feel like this until Shun regained a grip on reality and returned back to a semi-state of normal. But there was no telling when that would be. So, for the time being, we would all have to make due with this new Shun.

_No One_

A shadowy figure walked to the edge of a building and examined the streets below. They were barren, completely void of any sign of life, and this made the shadowy figure displeased. He was out looking for some new entertainment to replace his boredom.

The figure let out a sigh, but instantly drew it back. Stumbling down the street, appeared to be a man that was heavily intoxicated. A smile crossed the face of the shadowy figure. The cloak that hid him from the eyes of the living, began to unfurl into two, large bat-like apendages that were wings.

The figure then leaped down before the drunkard, knowing that the man was too intoxicated to freak out at the sight of him. And he was correct. The drank looked him over and asked in a slurred voice, "Going to a Halloween party?"

An amused smile creased the features of the winged-being; a chuckle followed shortly after. "What is the one thing that you want more than anything in the world?" the being smoothly asked the drunken man. In turn, the man swayed back and forth on his feet and thought for a moment.

"I want my cheating wife's boyfriend to suffer and to get her back. Why? You gonna do something about it, pal?" he slurred and poked the winged-being in the chest with his index finger. The being only stood there and smiled before answering with, "Actually, I can do something about it."

Even through his intoxication, this intriguided the drunkard. "How so?" he asked. The smile on the winged-being's face, only grew wider. "Just pay me a small price, and what you wish will come true," he informed the man. Confused, the drunk asked, "How much do I have to pay?"

A chuckled emerged from the winged-being. "You worry about that later on, my friend," he said to the drunk. Placing an arm around the man's shoulders, the being said calmly, "Now, let's do something about your wife's little boyfriend, shall we?" Before the drunkard could say a word, the being consumed the two of them in his wings.

When they unfolded, they were standing before the house of the wife's boyfriend. The drunk most likely thought that all of this was a by-product of the alcohol, but he would be wrong. What was about to happen, was all real and true.

Taking his arm from the drunk's shoulders, the being stepped up to the house and said, "Wait here for a moment." He then passed through the door, as if it had never been there. Shocked, the drunkard went up to the door and attempted to walk through it, but was knocked back.

Inside, the being encased himself with his wings, forming a black cloak to hide himself. He navigated his way through the house, as if he had lived their his entire life. When he finally stumbled upon the bedroom, he saw the cheating wife and her boyfriend asleep together in the bed.

_How convinient, _the being mused silently. _Two birds with one stone._ He then held his hand up to the ceiling, and a long scythe rose from the center of his palm. A long, wicked catclaw-like blade curved around almost into a complete circle.

Deep scratches littered the handle of the scythe; tally marks for how many souls had been taken by this tool of death. The being then lifted the scythe up, disabling its soul taking ability until the man was dead. He then let the blade go, hearing the sound of metal cutting into flesh.

Blood splattered on the walls of the bedroom, and the man's screams woke the cheating wife. She stared at the gory site next to her, unable to see the source of what had killed her partner. Terrified, she screamed and ran out from the bed, leaving her boyfriend's mangled body behind.

Now that the man was dead, the being pulled his soul out and sent him to the place of sinners. Since that was done with, he then set his eyes on the wife. She was trembling, and hardly capable of holding the phone in her hands as she attempted to call for the police.

The being cut into her back, stunning her to the point where she collapsed onto the ground and was bleeding, but not to the point to where she was dead. The woman was still screaming, and it would only be a matter of time before somebody heard her shrieks.

Picking her up, the being drapped her over his shoulders and carried her outside of the house. During this time, she had passed out either from fear or pain. The drunken man was still standing outside, rubbing his nose from where he had walked into the door.

The being unfurled his wings, and his cloak vanished so he could be seen once more. The drunkard caught sight of him, and all the color drained from his face. "What did you do?" he shouted when the being laid the bloody body of his wife down before him.

"I did what you wished for. The man she was with, has paid the price for what he has done, and she is returned to you. Now…..There is only the matter of you paying me back." Crying over his wife, the man's face turned into one of anger. He stood up and shouted, "Pay you for this! Never! I didn't want this!"

The being chuckled and said, "Oh, but you did. This was what you wished for." In total denial, the drunkard began to pace back and forth, unable to filter all of his rampaging emotions. "No. No. No," he repeated under his breath. The being lifted his scythe and said, "But yes. Now, time to pay up."

The scythe sliced into the drunk's body, sending waves of blood out onto the sidewalk. Now that the damage was done, the being took the soul from his body and allowed it to join the wife's boyfriend's soul. Standing over his work, he smiled.

"I don't think we were ever properly introduced," mused the winged-being. "I'm Rogue, and I'll be your Reaper. And consider your payment paid in full." Rogue then heard a low gurgling beside him, and saw that the injured wife was starting to come out of her shock.

Seeing that she was going to die anyone, Rogue took her soul as well, and allowed it to join her husband's and boyfriend's souls. Walking away from the bloody scene, he wrapped his wings around his body, creating his cloak once more to hide himself as the wailing of police sirens grew closer. Rogue smiled and mused to himself, "I love my job."

* * *

**there shall be no upload tomorrow; i have to stay afterschool till six for marching practice. -.- but i have a quick question and feel free to answer it if you want. do you think somebody deserves to be threatened to be punched in the face, all because the other person stated their opinion about how they feel that the person making the threat can't play their instrument at all? **

**do you think they overreacted...A LOT? well, that happened to me today. but i owned up and apologized and saw the hypocrite in this other person. they dissed how i played, which is solely her opinion, because i asked several other people how they thought she played, and they agreed with me that she can't. **

**but i respected her opinion, which is more than i can say for her respecting mine. if i can't play well, then why have i made first chair at clinics? and how come i dont have to ask for the note fingerings like she does? i must be such a horrible saxophonist. -.-''**

** i never said that i was the best person in our band; im far from it. but i am one of the few good players in there, which is kind of more than i can say for her. she claims i parade around and gloat about it, which i do not. i'm proud of myself because im good at something and know it. **

**and the way she reacted today, proved that she has no self confidence in how she plays. if she did, then she would have said, "I don't care what she thinks." and left me and my opinions to myself, rather than threatening to punch me in the face in front of the band. **

**but i've been complimented by several HIGH-RANKING directors that i am a good bari sax player, and i use that as my motivation to better myself even further. if that makes me a bad person, then this world is even more messed up than i thought it was. oh well, i could go on forever about this, but i won't. i've wasted enough of your time as it is. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~ (also state what you would do in this situation if you wish)**


	7. The Colors Of Life

_Alice_

I took a seat next to Runo at the dining table while we all waiting for Kato and the other servents to bring out this morning's breakfast. During the wait, all eyes were glued onto the forty inch flat screen TV that was hung on the wall in front of the table.

It was on the news; only because Murucho didn't know where Kato had left the remote, and he didn't feel like pestering Kato with something so minor. A story about a murder, was being covered at the moment. Three people were violently slaughtered late last night; there were no suspects as to who may have killed them.

Names of the victims were released, but we knew none of them. Murucho shook his head in shame and said, "When did the world become such a violent place?" That thought had come across my mind several times, but the truth was, it had always been violent.

It only seemed like now, that things kept getting worse, when in reality, they had never changed; we all had just finally grown out of our innocence and started to pay attention to what was going on all around us. Shun walked into the dining hall, making him the last of our group to arrive.

I smiled kindly and said, "Morning, Shun." I was trying to make things feel normal for him again, unlike the others, who were constantly making their worry known to the public. I admit that I was still concerned about him, but advertising our worry for him was only going to keep making things difficult.

Shun needed to start leaving all of this behind him and go on with his life, but he wouldn't be able to do that if everyone kept dwelling on it while around him. Shun gave me a quick nod of his head in order to return my cordial greeting without words.

He then took his seat down at the far end of the table like usual, and sat silently. I turned my head and faced the white tablecloth, then sighed. Our breakfast was brought out, but when one of the waiters got to Shun and was about to place a plate in front of him, Shun only shook his head and turned down the food.

Murucho, finishing a bite of food, asked curiously, "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat, Shun?" Our raven-haired friend only shook his head and leaning back into his chair. When I thought about it, Shun really hadn't eaten that much since he left the hospital.

Worry began to take over when I thought that he might have been starving himself due to all of this stress. _Something has to be done about this before it gets out of hand, _I thought to myself. An idea then came to my mind, and I stood up from my seat.

"Why don't we all go and walk around the city today? It'll give us a chance to get some air and relax." Everyone was looking at me while they took in my suggestion. Murucho smiled and said, "I think that's a great idea, Alice. To be honest, I've been so busy around here, I haven't had the chance to go out and have some fun for quite some time."

One by one, the others started to agree with my idea. Now all that was left, was Shun's input. "What do you say, Shun? Why don't you come with us?" I asked, hoping that he'd join us on our outing.

My whole entire goal of this, was to try and let Shun see that things were still normal, and that not much had changed since his wreck. All eyes were fixed on him as we awaited his answer.

He finally let out a small sigh and said, "I suppose I could go." I smiled and sat back down in my seat. Hopefully, my plan would work. If it didn't, then I had no clue as to how much longer I could stand to see Shun like this.

_Shun_

About an hour after breakfast, the six of us left Murucho's and began our walk around the city, just as Alice had suggested. The weather was nice; not too hot, but not cold enough for a jacket either. It was pleasant weather. As our group walked along the sidewalk, the girls would occasionally stop by a clothing store and peer into the windows to see what was inside.

I had only agreed to go with the others so they might stop worrying about me, and as far as I could tell, it was working. I was lagging behind the rest of the group when I noticed that Dan slowed his pace down and joined my side.

He leaned over and whispered, "At least act like you're having a good time, buddy, because I honestly think Alice thought this up cause of you." I glanced at Dan. This little fact didn't surprise me; Alice was caring like that. She was probably trying to show me that everything was like it had been before my wreck.

For the most part, things were still the same, minus a few new changes. _I just wish they'd believe that, leave me alone, and stop worrying so much. _They were practically wearing themselves out by being concerned about me, but Dan had a point.

Alice was doing this to try and help me, and I didn't want her to feel like her actions were for nothing. So, when she turned around and looked at me, I cracked a faint smile. This, in turn, made her smile back. We continued on our walk when I felt a familiar pressence nearby.

I stopped walking and looked around. The others noticed that I had stopped walking, and halted as well. "Is everything alright, Shun?" Runo asked me. Already, I knew there was concern growing on their faces. "Hello there!" a voice shouted from behind me.

I cringed at the nails-on-chalboard voice, and slowly turned around. Running down the sidewalk, frantically waving his hand around in the air, was Grim. He halted just short of me and my friends, not even so much as panting from his mad dash towards us.

"What a surprise, little Re-" He stopped short of finishing his sentence, and I was grateful for it. If he had called me by his little 'nickname' for me, then the others would probably would have been confused. And the last thing I needed was this lunatic spilling the secret of what I was now, or what he was for that matter.

He then continued and said, "Who are they, little raven? Your friends?" I shut my eyes and let out a heavy sigh; I thought I hated the other name, but this one made me stand corrected. Dan and the others stood beside me, examining the mad man that was Grim.

Dan leaned over and cautiously asked me, "Uh, Shun, do you know this guy?" Grim stood there, head tilted to the side, and a blank smile plastered on his face. I mumbled under my breath, "Hardly." Grim skipped over in front of Dan and took my friend's arm into his hands.

"What in the world are you doing?" Dan demanded as he tried to pry his arm from Grim's hands. The Reaper then flipped Dan's arm over so that the underside was facing up. Running along his arm, was a pinkish scar that had been there for as long as I could remember.

Grim's eyes sparkled at the sight of the blemish, and a childish smile was slapped across his face. He then lifted his index finger and traced the path of the scar. Dan was staring at Grim, his eyes wide and filled with complete confusion.

Was that how I had looked when the Reaper examined my scar? Had I looked that freaked out? Grim licked his lips and said smoothly, "You got this scar when you fell off your bike when you were eight." Dan's eyes grew even wider, and his weren't the only ones.

Behind him, the others stared at what was going on in utter shock. Dan then snapped out of his trance and snatched his arm out of Grim's grip. "H-how did y-you know that! Get out of here you freak!" he shouted, gathering the attention of several passersby.

Grim took a step back and told Dan, "Flattering will get you no where, my boy." This caught the others off guard. Before things escalated any further, I stepped between my friends and Grim. Turning towards the Reaper, I whispered in a harsh tone, "You need to get out of here! Now! Before you mess up and tell them what you are!"

Grim smiled and let out a deep chuckle. He then tilted his head to the side, his eyes halfway open. I then realized that hhis gaze was fixated on my scar. "So happy to see that you're not hiding that anymore," he whispered in a husky voice.

"It's too pretty to be covered up, remember that." A chill went down my spine with that being said. Behind me, the others didn't seem to have heard any of what was being said between Grim and I; they were too busy trying to calm Dan down.

The moment of Grim's act of smoothness, went away like somebody had flipped an internal switch inside of his brain. He laughed and said in a shrill voice, "It was nice seeing your friends. I shall see you around, little raven!" He then ran across the street, not even looking for oncoming traffic.

Cars blew their horns at him, but he made it to the other side unscathed. Grim gave us one last wave before running off somewhere else. While standing there, I began to wonder why Grim kept showing up whenever I went outside and into the city.

It was starting to leave a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach; I was actually starting to feel as if I was being stalked by him. I mentally made a note to mention something about to Death the next time I'd see him, whenever that would be.

I then remembered my friends behind me, and went back to them. Dan still appeared to be disturbed by what just happened to him. My friend turned to me and asked, "What kind of freaks are you hanging around with, Shun?" I didn't know how to respond to that question, so I kept silent.

Perhaps I could have told him that I wasn't hanging out with Grim, and that he was the one following me, but that made it sound even more like the Reaper was stalking me.

The others were still gathered around Dan and continuing their efforts to calm him down. They quickly realized that it was probably a good idea to go back to Murucho's, and our group continued on the way back from the way we came.

_Shun_

When we got back to Murucho's, I informed Kato that I would be on the roof in case somebody needed me or wanted to know of my whereabouts. It was growing dark outside when I walked up to the roof. As I strode across the helicopter pad, I let out a heavy sigh and thought about things could have turned out for the worse today.

If Grim had slipped up and told them about me, then the secret would be out. But maybe the others would have just taken his words as the ramblings of a crazy man. I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out at the city. It had occurred to me sometime ago, that I would have to give Dan some sort of explaination as to how Grim knew about that scar.

What would I tell him? It was a lucky guess? Even Dan was smart enough not to buy that story. "Deep in thought?" a monotone voice asked me. Rather than jumping and freaking out like I had done the previous two or three times, I chuckled and replied with, "I guess you could say that."

Death stood on the very edge of the roof, the breeze blowing his cloak around like a black flag. "Seen any new deaths?" he asked me, never taking his gaze from the darkening city. I shook my head and told him, "No…..Thank heavens for that."

Death let a short laugh escape. "You're thankful that you're not seeing what now makes you, you? Ah, you get more and more interesting by the day, my friend. But I have a feeling that you will see a death within the next few days. Things like deaths, are very frequent among new Reapers. So, prepare yourself for them."

The wind picked up some more, and I snuck a glance over a Death, expecting the wind to pull the hood of his cloak off and show me his face. But that hood didn't even so much as move with with wind, unlike the rest of his cloak that was now fanned out like a spectacular flag or banner.

I suddenly asked him, "How do you know when somebody's about to die? You never told me." Death's trademark grin appeared. "I see their auras. Those that are about to die, are black in color, while those with plenty of life left, are usually another color. It all depends on how much longer they will be alive. They are literally, the colors of life."

I wondered about what color my aura was now that I was a Reaper. Did I even have one now? Probably not. I then began to think about what color my aura might have been when I suffered my untimely death. How much life did I have left when that happened anyway?

It bothered me that I didn't know. Perhaps I could have asked Death, but I had a feeling that he wouldn't have told me. My mental note that I made suddenly came into my thoughts. I turned to Death and asked him, "What's Grim's deal? Why does he keep showing up everywhere I go?"

Death glanced down at me, and I saw a humorous smile crease what little of his face that was exposed. "Is he now? I guess he took more of a liking to you than I originally thought. There must be something he really likes about you if he's pursued you for this long. Normally, he'll take interest in something and be over it after a few hours, but apparently not this time. Don't worry too much about it though. I'm sure his little obession will pass with time. Or when something else grabs his attention. Whichever comes first."

It didn't how long it took for Grim to move on to something else, as long as he did and didn't follow me around for all of eternity. I noticed, from the little bit of Death's face that I could see, he appeared to be a bit lost in his thoughts as well.

"Didn't know something could trouble Death," I mused. His expression turned into a serious one when he said, "Those murders that happened last night. They were clearly caused by a Reaper. What's bothering me is that I have an idea of who did it, and the other Reapers and I have been unable to capture him and punish him for his crimes for quite some time."

I recalled there being some report on the TV about these murders, but I thought they were just that. Murders. The thought that a Reaper had killed those people, never once came to my mind. "I thought that…..Reapers didn't kill people. That they only sent their souls away."

Death gazed out at the city, which had now turned nothing short of dark; the only light the was around us, was the flashing light on top of the roof that signaled that there was a helicopter pad.

"They're not supposed to, but this Reaper has never followed by the rules. His name even suits what he is. Rogue. For as long as I can recall, the Reapers have been hunting for him to punish him for all the wrong he has done. Yet, they can never capture him for some reason. But you have no reason to worry about him, so don't," Death told me flaty.

Even I could see that this dilemma troubled him. There was a rogue Reaper out there, killing people that weren't supposed to die. How could they not capture him though? I was about to ask Death, but he cut me off. "I must be on my way now."

His cloak then engulfed him, and I was left standing on the roof by myself. And so, before the others started to worry about me once again, I left the roof and went inside for dinner.

* * *

**back! :p i would have uploaded yesterday (seeing as i didnt have a football game to attend to) but i went with a friend to see the new Resident Evil movie. guess what people, it's not the last one! WOO! but it was WAY better than Afterlife, seeing as there was ACTUALLY a storyline and plot in this one, rather than they were only focusing on effects like in the 4th movie (anyone who has seen that will understand what i'm talking about) they went WAY overboard on effects for the 4th one cause it was the first Resident Evil movie to be in 3D. but they corrected their errors in this one. and all i can say is, "RUSSIAN. COMMUNIST. ZOMBIES. ON. MOTORCYCLES. WITH. RPG GUNS!" how much cooler can that get! XD lol. well, i highly recommend for people that like the series to go see it. so worth it. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~**


	8. One Close Call Is Too Many

_Alice_

Shun walked down from somewhere upstairs; probably the roof if I knew him well enough. His timing was just right, for we were about to ask Kato to call him down and let him know that dinner was about to be served. He sat down in a chair that was a little bit closer to the rest of us, something he hadn't done since he left that hospital.

Perhaps he was slowly starting to turn back into his old self. With the thought of that, I felt a little bit of hope bubble up in me. All I, along with everyone else, wanted was for Shun to be himself again. Dinner was brought out to us, and unlike this morning, Shun didn't turn down the food that was placed before him.

As we sat around the table and talked, I noticed that Shun and Dan were actually carrying on a conversation that wasn't turning into an argument. Looking at Dan now, I was glad to see that he had completely calmed down from earlier.

He had been nothing short of freaked out by what that weird man did and said. But one thing was on all of our minds; who was that guy, and how did he know Shun? If he even did know Shun for that matter. The acting like he knew him though, or perhaps he was nothing more than a lunatic that was running wild in the streets.

When I thought about it, he never said Shun's name, but called him 'little raven' on several occassions. It confused me. This guy didn't even fit the description of people that Shun socialized with, and I wasn't even sure where somebody could run into such a character.

Honestly though, it wasn't so much the man's personality, as it was what he had said to Dan. After touching that scar on Dan's arm, he said how it got there. And as far as the I knew, there was no easily explainable way that this creep could have possibly known how Dan got that scar.

It was disturbing, and I was surprised that our friend hadn't freaked out more than he had. I turned my attention down at the end of the table to see if Dan and Shun's conversation was still going on peacefully and without conflict. It appeared that things were going smoothly at their end of the table.

Shun then ran a hand through his hair, and rested his head in the palm of his hand, as if he were tired. I didn't think anything of it other than Dan might have been boring him a bit, so I went on about my business and ate my dinner.

_Shun_

Much to my surprise, Dan never brought up what happened between him and Grim today, which was a relief for me. Instead, he just spoke about normal things; like telling me about what he had been up to for the past several years after his sudden disappearance.

I sat there and listened to him, and was actually happy that he was talking about something other than my wreck or something along those lines. _That's all they had to do. _I was getting so tired of them constantly bringing stuff up about my wreck, or if I was feeling fine, which was almost like doing the same thing.

I liked this feeling of normalcy, even if everything wasn't exactly normal anymore. Dan was continuing with his story when I suddenly began to feel as if I were trying to get a headache. I ran a hand through my hair, and rested the side of my face in my hand. Dan must have noticed my sudden change because he asked me, "Hey, everything alright? You're not looking so good."

I nodded, trying my best not to let him see that I was in pain. "Yeah. Feels like I might be getting a migrane. Nothing to worry about," I said softly. I knew for a fact that it wasn't anything major or something that could kill me, but I recalled the last time I felt this kind of pain trying to sneak up on me.

It had made itself known the first time I saw a death, and I remember how severe and horrible that pain had been. This could have really been nothing more than a headache, but paranoia had me thinking otherwise. What if I was trying to get another vision, and the same thing happened like last time?

I would end up passing out right here in front of everyone, possibly writhing in pain as well. How would I explain that to them? The moment that would happen, I knew they would immediately rush me to the nearest hospital. So, as to not take any chances, I stood up from my seat, wobbling on my feet a bit, and said, "I think I'm going to turn in early."

Alice looked up from her plate and asked me in that concerned voice of hers, "Are you not feeling well?" Before I could answer he question, Dan jumped in and told her, "Shun thinks he's getting one of his migranes. Might as well let him go and sleep it off." I gave Dan a nod, silently thanking him for giving Alice an explaination.

The others knew that I used to get migranes all the time when I was younger, so this shouldn't make them worry all that much. I left the dining hall and hurried up to my room as quickly as I could. Around me, the hallways started to spin, causing me to lose my balance on more than once occasion.

The pain in my head, also had started to congregate on the right side of my face, making me all the more certain about what was going to happen. Thankfully, I reached my room and locked the door behind me. The pain was growing more and more intense, causing me to place my hands over my eye; that was all I could do.

No amount of pain killers would help this; the only thing I could do, would be the deal with it until the vision subsided and showed me what I needed to see. It then felt like a knife had been stuck into my brain, and I gasped from the sudden, stabbing pain.

I dropped onto my knees like I had done in the bathroom the first time, and then fell against the wall of my room. My body made a thud when I hit the sheetrock wall, but I doubted that it was loud enough for anyone to have heard. All around me, the room began to vanish from my blurred sight.

Then, the foggy shapes around me began to change forms into other things. Slowly, my eyesight came somewhat back into focus, but not everything was clear. It looked like my vision had deposited me at the city's subway station. I was able to hear the sounds of trains, and masses of people walked around.

Then, I heard explosions, and the people began to scream and run in a massive panic. I then caught a glimpse of a gunman, pistol raised above his head. The vision then stopped there, and I was sucked back into the current time. I was laying in a crumpled heap on the floor, my back pressed against the wall.

My face was wet with tears from where I had been crying due to the severity of the pain. Slowly, I pushed myself up with my shaking arms, and leaned against the wall. I began to catch my breath and recompose myself. I then tried to use the wall to get up on my feet, but my knees buckled and I collapsed onto the floor.

Taking in a deep breath, I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. I decided that I would lay there until I recovered enough energy to stand, but I did realize something that was different about my vision this time; it didn't nearly take as much out of me as the last one.

Yeah, the pain had been almost as bad, but I hadn't passed out immediately after this one ended. Maybe the more I had, the easier they were to handle. It was almost like an immune system in a way. Hopefully I would build up a tolerance, and then they wouldn't bother me the least bit. Out of exhaustion, I began to fall asleep.

While in my half awake state, I thought I heard a voice say, "Must have been some vision." The voice made me open my eyes and look around. It didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't on the floor any longer, but rather, I was laying in my bed. "Huh?" I said with grogginess in my voice.

I pushed myself up with my hands, and now I was sitting up in my bed. The digital clock on my nightstand caught my eye; it was five in the morning. "What was it of this time?" somebody asked from the darkness of my room. It was now second nature for me to know whose deep, monotone voice it was.

"A shooting at a train station," I told it. "How did I end up in my bed?" I leaned over and flipped on the lamp on my nightstand, giving the pitch black room some light. Death was leaning against the door, arms folded over his chest.

He was looking right at me when he said, "I put you there. You wouldn't want one of your worried friends to come in here to check on you, and find you lying on the floor, would you?" I shook my head, but then wondered why he had decided to pay me a visit so late at night.

"Why are you here this time?" Death pushed himself off of the door and strode across the room and towards the window. "I told you I had a feeling that you'd have a vision sooner or later, and I was correct. Besides, you're still my responsibility right now. Until then, I have to check in with you every so often until I'm a hundred percent sure that you can handle yourself. So, a shooting at a train station, you say?"

I nodded, surprised that I was not as sickened by what I saw as I thought I'd be. But then again, my vision didn't show me who all died. For all I knew, this could have been like my first vision, and the person who I assumed would die, did not.

Death then asked me, "Do you know what time this one took place?" I Again, I shook my head. The only thing I saw, was the gunman and people running away from him. I was sure that there had been a clock somewhere in that station, but I mustn't have paid it any mind.

Death shook his head and told me, "You're going to have to learn how to get more control over your visions and see more than what they are allowing you. If you don't, then you might miss a Reaping and get punished for not Reaping the intended souls."

I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to do that, but if it meant keeping me out of trouble with these Reapers, then I'd do whatever I had to; for I didn't want to know how a Reaper was punished. "So, I take it we'll have to stay around the train station until my vision happens? Like we did at that alley?" I asked.

Death turned his back to me and said, "Not me. You're going to go solo on this one." The lamp beside my bed clicked off, turning the room back into darkness. Quickly, I felt around for the switch and turned it back on, only to find that Death was no longer in the room.

_Death_

My cloak lowered, and deposited me on the roof of the Marakura mansion. Beside me, I heard a snickering and looked down. Grim was sitting like a dog next to my feet. His eyes sparkled with anticipation when he asked, "So, did the little Reaper have another vision? Please tell me, Death! I want to be there and watch him Reap souls! Come on! Can I please go, Death?"

As if I had to give Grim permission to go anywhere, but he was strange like that, and I found it best not to question him. "I don't care, Grim. I'm not going to show up there though until his work is done. But if you do go, try not to get in his way. You know as well as I do, that he's still new to all of this."

Grim rapidly clapped his hands together and squealed, "I get to see the little Reaper take some souls! Yay!" I chuckled at Grim's behavior; I always found his child-like attitude somewhat amusing. Grim then gave eyed me slyly and said in a silky tone, "Are you still dwelling on Rogue?"

I turned around and began to pace back and forth on the roof. "You know I always am, Grim. What he's doing, it's wrong." Grim followed my movements while walking on all fours, making him appear even more like a dog or pet. He lifted his head up some so he could make eye contact with me and said, "I've always found your fascination with him…Fascinating."

I cut him a glare and said coldly, "There is no fascination with him, and you know that. I'm strickly trying to get him off of these streets and to stop him from slaughtering innocent people." Grim chuckled and stood up on his feet. "I know, Death. I'm just having a little fun with ya," he hissed near my ear while slinging his arm over my shoulders.

This action would have normally disturbed somebody that did not know Grim, but it hardly fazed me; I had been around him far too long, and knew how he was. "Oh, is that so, my pretty? I'll be right there then," Grim said to himself.

He then turned to me and said, "Duty calls. Like I always say, Death never sleeps. By, my friend! Tell the little Reaper I said hello and shall be there to watch him Reap some souls!" Grim jumped off of the building's roof, all thirty or forty floors, and landed in the street below without so much as gaining a scratch.

From the roof, I watched him run off somewhere else into the city so he could take another soul. I then stood on the edge of the roof, staring out at the horizon, and waited for the coming on another day.

* * *

**check out my poll before it closes at the end of the month. also, since it was so popular the past couple of times, i'm making look-a-likes for the OC's in this story as well. they are on my photobucket profile, and the the link to the album for one of my other stories is on my fanfiction profile, and the new album should be accessible from that link. regardless, i'm going to have the link to the new story's look-a-likes up sooner or later. (just to let you all know, there are a few spoilers in the picture's summaries, so if you don't want to spoil any of the story, try and refrain from reading the descriptions.) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~ **


	9. In Memory

_Dan_

Alice and I were the first ones to wake up, so we decided to hang around in the sitting area and wait for the others to get up. I was stretched out along a sofa, while Alice sat upright in a chair. She suddenly asked me, "Do you really think that Shun's okay like he says he is?"

I had been tossing the TV remote up in the air and catching it when she said that. Before it hit me in the face, I caught it and sat the remote back on the coffee table. Sitting up, I told her, "I don't know. Why? Do you think he's been lying?" Was something like that above Shun? No. Nowhere near it.

Shun had lied to us on several occassions, so this wouldn't surprise me. Alice shrugged her shoulders. "I want to believe him, but I know his previous record with stuff like this. He hides things, and you know that as well as any of us, Dan." I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed.

Sadly, that was true as well. I had been the first to discover how bad Shun was about keeping secrets from the rest of us. "I'm sure he's going to be fine, Alice," I told her in an attempt to quell her doubts. Alice smiled faintly at me, but it was genuine nonetheless.

We sat there for several more minutes when Shun walked in. I looked at him and asked, "How ya feeling?" Shun stared at me, and by the confusion on his face, he didn't have the slightest idea as to what I was talking about. "You said last night you thought you were getting a migrane…," I added in order to try and jog his memory.

When his confused expression changed, I knew he was aware as to what I was talking about. "Oh, yeah. That. It's gone now," he told me and started to walk towards the door. Alice leaned forward a bit in her chair, almost like she was going to jump up and stop him from leaving.

But instead, she asked him, "Where are you going now?" Shun leaned against the doorframe and told her, "Just going out for some air. I probably won't be back till late, so try not to get worked up worried about me like last time, alright?" He wasn't trying to be sarcastic to her or anything like that.

By the tone in his voice, he really didn't want us worrying about him. _If only he knew how hard it is to not worry, _I thought to myself. Alice nodded her head once, and Shun vanished down the hall. I sat there for about five minutes, plenty of time for Shun to navigate his way through Murucho's mansion and make his way outside, then stood up.

"You too? Where do you think you're going, Dan?" Alice asked, her voice tinged with a bit of annoyance from people constantly leaving. Not wanting her to get angry at me for refusing to give her an answer, I told her honestly, "I'm going to chase after Shun and see where he's running off to, and to make sure nothing bad happens to him."

Alice stood up from her chair and folded her arms over her chest. Suddenly, I felt like there was a lecture coming on. "You know if Shun finds out you're following him, he's probably going to get mad, right?" I nodded to let her know I was fully aware of the consequences of what would happen to me if Shun caught me.

"I'm doing this for Shun's own good, Alice. Okay?" I just wanted to make sure that nothing happened to him, but I was also curious. He had left Murucho's on several occassions, telling us nothing more than he was going out for some air, and then he would come back almost after midnight.

So, I was curious to know where he was going. For all I knew, I might run across the place where he met that creep that touched my arm. Alice sat back down, already looking worn out. "Alright, Dan. Just watch yourself, okay? I'll tell the others that you and Shun left for a walk. Perhaps they won't worry as much if they think that Shun's with somebody," she told me.

I smiled and thanked her before starting to chase after Shun. I made it out of Murucho's and now stood out on the sidewalk. Quickly, I started to look around for which way Shun may have gone. A feeling started to creep up on me, and it was saying that I had already lost him.

But just as doubt started to grip my mind, I caught a glimpse of his tell-tale hairstyle. I kept an unnoticeable distance behind him as I followed. Nothing about this little excursion looked suspicious; to me, it appeared to be just a routine walk. But that quickly changed when Shun walked down the stairs into the subway station.

"Why in the world is he going in there?" I hurried down the stairs and into the station. My eyes scanned around the crowd of people, and they locked onto Shun. He was in the farthest corner of the station, leaning against the wall and blending in to his surroundings.

Still standing on the stairs, I realized that I was basically advertising my pressence here. So, I went down the rest of the steps and kept out of sight as best as I could. For almost an hour, Shun did nothing but stay in that exact same spot; never once did he move a single muscle.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to myself. Was he waiting on a train? If he had, then why come so early to catch a train that would be here this late in the day? Besides, where would he even be going? Was he waiting on somebody to arrive? If so, then who? It didn't make any sense. None of it.

My eyes then caught sight of somebody standing in a dark corridor; it was that freak that touched the scar on my arm. He was hunched over in the shadows, rubbing his hands together, and a wide smile on his face. When I followed his intent gaze, I saw that it was fixated on where Shun was standing.

It looked like the creep snickered or did something like it. Why was he even here? Was he stalking Shun or something? The thought of that, made me feel somewhat violated now. That guy had touch my arm, and now I knew he was some sort of stalker.

What if he started following me around now? As I pondered what in the world was going on here, a man in a long, black coat walked past me. A few people stared at him, wondering why he was in such warm clothing on a warm day. I tore my gaze from Shun and the creep, to the warmly dressed man.

He had a hand stuck in his pocket, and he quickly pulled it out, holding a pistol in his hands. Several shots rang out, echoing in the subway tunnels and nearly deafening me. Out of insticnt, I dove for the ground as people began to run around frantically. I watched helplessly as several people dropped to the ground and blood started to soak the marble floors. Finally registering what was going on, my eyes started to look around for Shun.

Where he had been standing, was totally vacant now. In fact, I didn't see him anywhere in the subway through the panicking people. Had he been shot or gotten out of the station? The gunman shot several more rounds, each one sending a piercing shock through my ears.

The shooting continued for maybe three minutes, more and more people joing those that had already been shot, when the police finally arrived. About twelve police officers came running into the station, each one putting a pistol at the gunman, whose eyes now portrayed an image of fear at the sight of the cops.

He immediately let go of the gun, held his hands above his head, and dropped down to his knees. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do this! I'm sorry!" he kept shouting in the already loud tunnels. The police moved in and pinned the man to the ground, where they proceeded to cuff his wrists together.

The head policeman turned to the terrified survivors of this tragedy and said, "I want everyone to slowly to leave out of the station and go into the streets above. We want to interview a few people and find out what happened here. Please do this in an orderly manner."

I expected the people to run out of the station as quickly as they could, but they calmly walked up the stairs. As they passed by, I scanned each person's face for Shun's, but didn't see him anywhere among them.

I was about to turn around and force myself to look at the bullet-ridden bodies behind me, but an officer ushered me out of the station without giving me so much as a chance to glance and those who had been shot.

_Shun_

The moment I heard the first gunshots, I summoned my cloak and threw it on. Now, I was hidden from everyone's sight, which was just what I needed. The police showed up and put an end to this massacre. As they hearded people out of the station, I pictured the scythe in my mind, and felt it form in the palm of my hand.

Composing myself, I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath. This was still something that was difficult for me to bring myself to do. When I opened my eyes, I saw that over ten bodies littered the floor in front of me. "I have to….Reap all of them?"

I felt like giving up right then and there. Taking one soul was hard enough to do as it is, but at least fifteen or more? It felt so impossible. How would I even manage to keep my composure while doing this? After all, I still had emotions. It wasn't like I was completely stone dead on the inside. A snickering brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned around to see Grim.

"Looks like you have a tall order on your hands, little Reaper!" He was wearing a heavily tattered cloak, but at least he was keeping himself hidden; I really doubted he was crazy enough to leave himself exposed to the police officers that were now taping off the crime scene. "Why are you here?" I asked, thinking that I was supposed to be doing this by myself and without an audience.

Grim rubbed his hands together and said, "Death informed me last night that you had another vision of a death, and I wanted to watch you in action. Is that so wrong, little Reaper?" The police started going around and checking to see who was dead, and who was still alive.

So far, nobody seemed to be. "Better get started, little Reaper! You're working on your own on this one!" Grim squealed and took a seat on one of the benches, as if he were watching a movie. I let out a heavy sigh and readied the scythe that had once belonged to Death.

After Reaping right at fifteen souls, and watching each ones life as it flashed before me so I determined where to send them, I was left utterly drained. No longer wanting to stand, I walked away from the crime scene and sat down on the cold floor. Grim was laying on the bench, his belly facing down on the wooden seat, and his feet sticking up in the air.

He rested his chin in his hands as he stared down at me. "That was quite a spectacle, little Reaper! I'm so jealous at Death cause he has you all to himself! It's just not fair!" Grim whined loudly. A monotone voice then said, "Life isn't always fair, Grim. You know that."

Quickly, Grim jumped up from the bench and stood up straight. "I know, Death! I was just kidding around!" he shouted nervously. Death appeard to be ignoring the mentally unstable Reaper as he examined over the crime scene. "Quite a job you had here," he said calmly.

I nodded, still feeling drained and run down as far into the ground as I could possibly be. Grim was looking down at me, his arms crossed over his chest as he scrutinized over me. "Looks like the little Reaper isn't as filled with fight like he usually is," he said while pouting his lip out a bit. Grim's observation was right.

After all that I had just gone through and had to do, I felt as dead as the bodies over there. Death told the Reaper flatly, "He's probably tired. A Reaping of this size wouldn't be easy for any new Reaper, or even an experienced one at that." Back at the crime scene, the police had taken their pictures and had started to clean everything up and leave.

Death turned to Grim and said, "You got to see what you wanted to, now you can go. There's nothing else for you to see here, Grim." The maniac Reaper looked at his 'friend' as if he had insulted him. "But, Death," he started to whine.

Death raised a hand and said sternly, "It's time for you to go." Grim narrowed his eyes and pouted for a moment, then smiled happily once more. "Alright, then! Bye, Death! Bye, little Reaper!" he shouted and ran down the subway tunnel, vanishing its its dark contents.

"Hope he doesn't get hit by a train," I mumbled under my breath. It wasn't intended sarcasm, but it could have been taken that way; I really didn't want to watch what kind of damage that Reaper might cause to a train. "He won't," Death told me.

"Now, tell me how everything went. Did you run into any trouble while performing this job?" I took the hood of my cloak off and sighed. "No. There wasn't any trouble. But…..These people. Hardly any of them had done anything wrong in their lives…..How could they deserve something like this?"

That question had troubled me since I Reaped the first soul from this group. I knew that all living things would die eventually, but did innocent people really have to die in such barbaric ways? "Death doesn't judge a person's time by their actions or choices; that's decided after death. It's a high power's decision to make when a person dies, and how. We, are merely the tax collectors of the soul."

Somehow, I knew that would be Death's answer. Or, at least, something along those lines. I tilted my head back and stared up at the florescent ceiling lights of the station. "If I have to do this for the rest of eternity, than I don't know how long I'll be able to keep myself together," I said under my breath.

Already, I felt like I was starting to lose my grip on myself. And when that happened, I might end up like Grim; I shuddered at that thought. "You say that now, but after a while, it doesn't bother you anymore. Give it some time," Death told me in a reassuring voice.

I sighed and stood up, slipping out of the black cloak that had been keeping me hidden. "Well, if I'm done here, then I think I'll go back to my friend's place now." My voice was still filled to the brim with fatigue, but I somehow knew that I wouldn't sleep well that night.

Death stopped me before I began to walk off and asked, "Don't you want to at least try and teleport back? You'll have to learn how to do that eventually." I shook my head and said softly, "I think I'm just going to walk back. Thanks, though." I turned my back to him and started up the stairs.

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_chapter title based off the song In Memory by Shinedown. _**i think i have math homework to do. -.- so, ima go get started on that after a snack. read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~**


	10. Breaking Inside

_Shun_

I was doing nothing short of forcing myself to walk back to Murucho's; I was so worn out, that I wasn't entirely sure how I was still able to stand. When I left the subway, the sun was starting to set behind the towering buildings around me, and I had a good idea that it would be right at dark when I got back to Murucho's.

Already, I was bracing myself for their worried and concerned looks, despite the fact that I had told them not to worry. Finally, I made it back to Murucho's; I had never been happier to see the massive building in my life. I walked through the front door and navigated my way up to the floor that I was staying on with the others; there was no way that I could have planned for what happened next.

I reached the sitting area, and found the others sitting around and talking idly. Nothing about this picture stood out to me, but it was Dan's sudden change in his expression that made me realize not all was well within the group. Julie cut off her conversation with Runo and said with a smile, "Oh, there you are, Shun. We thought you would have been back here with Dan, but he said that he lost track of you in a crowd."

Confused, I turned and looked at Dan, wondering what Julie was talking about and whether or not she had finally lost her mind. He quickly sat up from his seat on the sofa and said, "Man, glad to see you again. Hey, we need to talk out in the hall."

I was only getting more and more confused. What were they talking about? _Have I missed something? _I was certain that I had left Murucho's by myself, not with Dan. Then, I started to catch onto a scheme and followed Dan out into the hall. He shut the door to the sitting room. "What in the world are you guys talking about? You didn't leave with me," I said sternly.

Dan then turned around, a look of hostility blazing in his eyes. "What is your problem!" he demanded. "My problem? I'm not the one yelling," I retort, quickly growing aggravated. Dan started to pace back and forth in the hall. "Why in the world were you in that subway station? You could have been shot by the maniac."

I was about to call him insane, when I finally registered what he had just said. He knew where I was and what happened today. "You…..You followed me!" I shouted, appauled that he had completely disregarded my privacy. Dan folded his arms over his chest.

"I followed you to make sure you didn't get hurt again, but by the looks of what happened today, I think you're doing nothing but looking for trouble. I mean, who in the world sits around in a train station for four hours! If I didn't know any better, I would think that you knew that shooting was going to happen…Tell me you didn't."

His stone cold gaze didn't leave me, and they weren't going to until I gave him his answer. To keep my cover, I laughed humorlessly and told him harshly, "No. How would I even know that was going to happen? I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired and would like to get some peace and quiet without you yelling in my ear."

I didn't like fighting with Dan, but he was treading on thin ice with me, and trying my ever last nerve of patience. He did not need to know about what I had been doing on my 'outings' in the city. He would either deem me crazy or brain damaged from the wreck, or if he believed me, he may have seen me as some kind of demon or monster.

Quite frankly, I preferred not knowing what the outcome would be if I spilled my secret. So, it was for the best if it stayed between me and the other Reapers; the only ones that should even know about this kind of world. Dan let out a heavy sigh and said coldly, "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm tired of looking out for you."

Somehow, those words got to me, but I wasn't about to show it. Instead, I closed my eyes and brushed past him and went through the sitting room, ignoring the stares from the others.

_Dan_

I never told the others what went on today; as far as they were concerned, they thought that I had gone on a walk with Shun today and lost sight of him. They knew nothing about us being at the shooting and such. Alice was the only one that knew that I had followed Shun without his knowledge, but even I didn't inform her about today's horrid events.

Shun stormed past me and cut through the sitting room so he could go to his room. When he walked by, I felt like I was getting much more than a cold shoulder; I was getting an entire glacier dumped on me. _So stubborn, _I thought to myself.

Sighing, I recomposed myself and cooled down my anger before going back to the others. Their eyes locked on me, all of them looking lost and confused. Julie was the first to speak when she asked, "Are you and Shun fighting again? I thought you two were past that."

Runo was sitting next to her, legs crossed over each other and arms folded. "He probably said something to tick Shun off again, like always," she said smartly. Cutting her a curt look, I said, "I'm not in the mood for that, Runo." She picked up on the seriousness in my voice, realizing that this wasn't one of mine and Shun's regular disagreements.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk and cool down some," I told them as I turned around and left the sitting area. None of them stopped me, which I wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. Maybe they wanted to stay out of my way, afraid that I'd go off on them.

Or, they might have seen it as something that I needed to keep my head on my shoulders. I stepped out in the cool night air and started to walk down the empty sidewalks.

_Shun_

I slammed the door to my room closed, rattling pictures that hung on the wall. Anger was still tangled up inside of me, trying to find someway to escape before I completely lost it. "How could he just think he had a right to follow me without my permission?" I asked to nobody.

My anger wasn't so much from the fact that he had tagged along with me knowing, but it was more out of the fear of how much he had seen back at the station. I knew for a fact that he saw the shooting, and he knew I was there, but what had he seen after that?

Did he see me vanish out of my cloak, or perhaps afterwards when I was sitting on the floor and talking to Death and Grim? By the way he was talking during our confrontation, he didn't seem to know about anything other than I was at the shooting.

But that didn't mean that Dan just didn't want to bring it up yet. Thinking that some water would cool me down, I stepped into my bathroom and turned on the water faucet. Water rushed out and into the sink. I caught some in my hands and splashed it on my face; it didn't do anything for my anger, but it did wash away some of my consuming fatigue.

I then looked up at the mirror, my wet hair sticking to my face and making me appear to be as furious as I felt. My gaze then fell on my scar, and I felt my anger return. It was all cause of that wreck and deal that I made with Death, that this was happening.

I was losing my grip on everything, and I started to feel that it might have been better if I had just stayed dead. "Would have saved them the burden of worrying about me," I hissed under my breath. My emotions then got the better of me, and I found myself punching my hand into the mirror.

The silver-backed glass shattered and cracked, and I felt a couple of shards stick into my hand. I kept my hand there for a moment, and several trails of blood started to streak down the cracked mirror. Surprisingly, there wasn't that much pain in my hand.

I pulled my arm away from the destroyed mirror, and started to wonder how I would explain this to Murucho. Suddenly, I focused back on my reflection, and saw that a single crack followed a perfect trail over my reflection's scar. I then looked at the other breaks in the glass.

They were all like scars, things that would never go away, no matter what you used to cover them up; you still knew they were there. And this cracked mirror looked how I felt; cracked.

_Rogue_

I sat on the edge of a windowsill, kicking my feet around in the air. It had been a couple of days since my last redezvous with a human, and I could feel that itch returning to me once again to tell me I was due to mess with lives. _Where shall I look tonight? _

There were many places I could go and find a new client; bars, clubs, and so forth. But I was starting to grow tired of finding easily manipulated people like that drunk I ran into a few nights ago. I desired more of a challenge, somebody that was a bit more coherent.

I was about to leap from my windowsill, when I saw somebody walking down the sidewalk below. Or, more like stomping along. I smiled slyly. _Why look when the best things in life come to you? _I unfurled my wings, making my cloak vanish and my pressence known.

Jumping down from the window, I landed beside the young man, startling him. He flinched back and looked me over. Then, his expression turned less apprehensive. "Nice costume. A little late for Halloween though, don't ya think?" he asked, his voice void of almost any humor.

I always found it amusing how humans always thought of me as a man in a costume, and until it was too late, did they discover that I was a being of Death. "Is there something that you desire more than anything in this world?" I crooned and awaited the answer. The brunette cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What are you? Some kind of stalker or something. Listen, I've dealt with enough of those as of lately."

He started to walk away, but I halted his direction of travel by stepping in front of him. "I promise you, I am no stalker. Just…..An observer of the human nature." It was obvious that the boy still had no interest in what I could offer him.

This theory was proven when he said, "I don't want anything other than you to go and trick-or-treat somewhere else." _This human is quite stubborn. Maybe I shouldn't have wanted somebody coherent. _But there was something about his fight and stubborness that I found amusing.

I had at one point that some people are actually too interesting to kill. Was this possibly one of those people? I certainly took an intrest in him. An idea came to my mind, a way that I could examine this specimen more closely. "What….If you could live as long as you wanted? Nothing could kill you. Would that spark your fancy?" I asked while stroking my chin.

The brunette took a step away from me and said flatly, "You're insane, man. Go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under. I'm not in the mood for anymore mind games tonight." He tried to walk away from me, and once again, I didn't allow this to happen.

"If you knew this wasn't the ramblings of a deranged man, or a joke, would you take up the offer?" I asked. Already, I was preparing myself to accept another decline, and take matters into my own hands. I was going to get what I wanted from this human, and that was to find out more about him. He crossed his arms over his shoulders. "Immortality, huh? I guess that sounds pretty cool, and if I did have that chance, I might take it up. But there's no such thing. Now, I'm leaving."

I allowed the boy to walk past me this time. He didn't seem to noticed the devilish grin on my face. "That's all I wanted to hear," I mused and summoned my scythe. In one fluent motion, the blade swung around and cut into the back of the brunette. He screamed out in a pain.

"Music to my ears," I purred. His body dropped onto the sidewalk, convulsing and screams lurching from his lungs. This was poetry at its finest; the ending, and new beginning of a life. I then cut into the boy one more time. His eyes widened to their fullest extent, and a thin line of blood trickled down the side of his face.

Slowly, his eyes then shut, and his head turned to the side. Now, he was dead and awaiting for my next step. Since he was not meant to die, he had the ability to become a Reaper. But unlike my other clients, I never offered them the chance. This boy, was truly special and lucky compared to the others I had Reaped before him.

I stood over his body, arms crossed over my chest, and I took in the sight. It kind of pained me to bring back somebody that I had Reaped, but what other choice did I have? If I were to examine this human more closely, then this was the only thing I could do.

He would become my student, giving him no choice but to stay near me and learn; if he did not, then the Reaper council would hunt him down and punish him for not taking souls, since he would not know how.

I then knelt down beside his body and said to deaf ears, "You know, word around the city is that Death found himself a new little bloodhound, and that he's teaching him how to Reap souls. Then, he's going to send him after me and have me captured. How hilarious. What makes him think that this one is any different from the others he's sent after me and that I've banished to Hell? So, to mix it up a bit, I guess I could train you as my guard dog and have you go toe-to-toe with Death's new pet, while I finish things with him once and for all. What do you say? Yes? That's wonderful. Now, let's get down to business."

I stood up and ripped open a portal into the realm where the souls of untimely deaths went, so I could turn my latest victim, into a Reaper.

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_chapter title based off the song Breaking Inside by Shinedown. _sorry for not uploading the past few days. didnt feel like it tuesday, had a chiropractor appointment yesterday afternoon, and that's about it. check out my poll please if you have not done so. Read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	11. I'm Not Alright

_Dan_

I forced my eyes open and was looking up at the turning blades of a ceiling fan. My mind was in a total fog, making me completely unaware of where I was at. Sitting up, I looked around and found that I was in my bedroom at Murucho's. Portions of last night started to return to my memory.

I had gotten into yet another fight with Shun, and to calm down, I went out for a walk. But the thing was, I never recalled coming back to Murucho's. For some reason, up to when I left the mansion, was nothing but a blank memory. I swung my legs around, my feet hanging off the bed and touching the cool carpet below. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, so why did it feel like this was all a really bad dream?

I pushed myself up and out of the bed. When I stood up, I felt a pain shoot through my back, almost causing me to fall to my knees. Thankfully, I caught myself on the nightstand next to my bed. I stayed there for a moment, allowing the pain the subside, then tried to stand up straight again.

The pain didn't attack me this time, and I attributed it to sleeping in a wrong position sometime during the night. Now that I was standing, I saw that I was still in my clothes from yesterday. Every second seemed to bring with it a new feeling of confusion and loss.

Thinking that the others might be able to shed some light on what went on last night, I hurried out of my room and began my search for them. I found them in the sitting room at the end of the hall; all of them were accounted for except for Shun.

Their eyes turned to look at me, and their expressions resembled that of people who had seen a ghost. Murucho repositioned himself in his chair so he could face me. "Dan? When did you get back here?" They didn't even know when I returned to the mansion?

_Something's not right here._ "Yeah. You left around eight or so, and weren't back when we all went to bed. Some of us started to get worried," she said with a hint of concern that she was trying to hide in her voice. If I wasn't back when they all turned in for the night, then that could have only meant that I arrived here extremely late in the night.

But if that was the case, then why was I even out on my walk for that long of a time period? "I….Uh…..Don't really know. I don't even recall coming back here last night….." I said finally. Alice left her seat and approached me. She then placed her hand on my forehead and asked, "Do you feel sick, Dan?"

She then withdrew her hand the moment her fingertips touched me, a look of familiarity flashing in her eyes. "You're freezing…." she said quietly. "I am? I don't feel like it though," I said, looking down at myself, as if my body was now alien to me.

Nothing about me felt any different, other than the hollow feeling in my brain whenever I tried to remember what happened. I didn't feel sick, or cold for that matter. "Maybe you should see a doctor, Dan," Murucho suggested. "This isn't normal."

Suddenly, fear started to take its hold on me. What if something was really wrong with me? "You're probably right, Murucho…..I'll go up there sometime today and get checked out." Shun then walked in the room from behind me, and still felt that deathly cold shoulder being given to me.

The moment he brushed past me, the word _bloodhound _came to my mind for some reason. _What is going on with my brain? _I asked myself, fearing that I was losing my sanity. I then noticed that Shun's hand was taped up with bandages, but I knew if I asked him, he wouldn't give me an answer since we were still in bad standings.

So, I leaned over to Alice, who was still standing next to me, and whispered, "What happened to his hand?" Alice's eyes fell on him and she said with a tinge of sadness, "He said he lost his temper last night after your fight and punched the mirror in his bathroom."

I gulped, glad that the mirror hadn't been my face. I then turned to the others and said, "Well, I guess I'll go on and get checked out. See you guys in a bit." Murucho stopped me when he offered for Kato to drive me to the hospital. "No, thanks, Murucho. I think I can get there on my own."

The short blonde's expression was one of doubt, but he let me leave on my own. I didn't feel like I needed somebody to look out of me since I felt totally in control of myself, but I probably should have taken Murucho up on his offer.

What if something did happen while I went to the hospital, and I woke up somewhere else, completely unaware of how I got there? But I felt that it was too late now to change my mind, and that it would make me feel like a burden. So, I left on my own, holding onto the hope that I made it there with no problems.

_Shun_

Dan and the others were talking to each other when I entered the sitting room. Still somewhat angry at Dan, I didn't even so much as waste my time and glare at him. When he leaned over and asked Alice something, I knew that it was about my bandaged hand, since I caught him looking.

Murucho had taken the broken mirror rather well, not getting mad for the damage done to it. And the only reason my hand was bandaged, was so the others wouldn't get suspicious about its rapid recovery. In fact, it was already healed up.

Then, Dan and Murucho mentioned something about a hospital, and Dan left. "What was all that about?" I asked the moment I was sure he was out of earshot. Murucho leaned back in his seat and told me, "Dan doesn't remember anything from last night after his fight with you, so he's going to a doctor to make sure he's okay."

Even though I was still angry at him for following me yesterday, I had to admit that I was worried now. Dan was still my friend, and knowing that something could be wrong with him, didn't settle right with me. A thought then crossed my mind; what if he was dying and I had to be the one to Reap his soul?

I doubted that I could ever bring myself to do that to somebody I knew; in fact, I'd sooner take the punishment for not doing my job, than to take one of my friend's souls. "Well…..Let's just hope it's Dan's crappy memory getting the better of him," I said and retreated by to my room.

When I crossed through the threshold, Death was sitting in the windowsill. I closed the door behind me, so in case one of the others walked by, they wouldn't hear me having a conversation with somebody that they could not see. Without seeing his face, I could sense that something was causing Death distress.

"What's up?" I asked. His gaze was fixed intently out of the window when he said, "Nothing. Just doing some thinking. Any new deaths to report?" I shook my head, and just in case he didn't see me, I told him, "None. Maybe fate is taking a break after that massive shooting."

Surely there was such a thing as a break in between deaths; they couldn't be one after another all the time, right? I walked over and stood beside Death, trying to peer over him and get a look at what had all of his attention. He then said somberly, "Well, then, if that's the case, then I must depart now."

His cloak swallowed him up, leaving an empty windowsill behind. I then walked over to where he had been sitting and started to look around for what he had been so fixated on.

Nothing stood out at me, but I did see Dan just as he walked behind a building that now obstructed my vision. Perhaps it was just a coinsidence that Death was looking in that direction and Dan was there, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

_Dan_

I was about a block away from the local medical center, which was where I decided to get looked at for my sudden amnesia. All while on this walk, I hadn't passed by a single person. Although, that wasn't that uncommon for a weekday; most people were at work rather than walking around the city blocks and shopping.

But when I did finally encounter a person, I was about to make eye contact with them as a common courtesy, but ended up stopping dead in my tracks. While they smiled and waved at me, I was too engulfed by what I saw above them; there were numbers floating above them.

One of the numbers kept getting lower and lower, almost like a clock. The person's smile vanished, and they quickly walked away from me thanks to my strange reaction. I still stood there on the sidewalk, eyes wide with shock. "What's going on?" I shouted in the middle of the city block.

My hands found their way on the side of my head, and my back leaned against the wall of a local store. First, I couldn't remember anything from last night, and now, I was seeing things. "I'm going crazy. I'm going crazy," I mumbled to myself.

"No, you're not going crazy," a voice told me. Quickly, I looked up and saw a man dressed head to toe in a tattered black cloak. When I saw his face from under his hood, a wave of familiarity hit me. "I-I…I remember you….." I said with a shaking voice.

How did I remember this guy though? And like a crashing wave, a section of last night returned to me. This guy was talking to me while wearing some costume, and I thought him to be crazy. Then, I remember him attacking me. He had sliced into my back with something extremely sharp, and while I laid there on the ground, he attacked me again….No…..He killed me.

_Dan_

I stumbled back and fell on the ground, my eyes wide and starting to fill with tears. "G-get away! Wh-what did y-you do to me!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. This couldn't have happened. He couldn't have killed me because I was alive now, right? The man knelt down beside me, and I got a closer look at his face, and noticed something I hadn't seen before; he had on some kind of eye patch like contraption on his face.

"Calm down," he said. "You're making a scene." I was shaking out of pure fear, and I felt as if I was going to be sick. "Th-this…..This is impossible!" I yelled. "I must be losing it!" None of this was possible. If he killed me, then I should be dead. There was no way around it. The man then grabbed on tightly to my shoulder and lifted me up to my feet.

I was now crying, tears flooding from my eyes. I didn't understand what was happening. How bad was my new insanity going to get? "This is very possible," the cloaked man mused. "You're now a Reaper thanks to me, and you're going to help me with something. I could have just let you die and enjoy your time in the netherworld, but I let you live. So, be thankful."

He let go of my shoulder, and surprisingly, I was able to support myself without dropping back to my knees. "I can't be dead," I whispered. The man sighed and said to himself, "This is why I stopped turning people into Reapers." He then formed a black cloak out of thin air, and tossed it at me.

"Put that on. You're causing too much of a scene, and I don't want anyone seeing you and thinking you're a deranged maniac." _But I am one._ _Just look at what's going on! _With shaky hands, I put the cloak on, not seeing how this was supposed to make people think I was normal.

Then, the sidewalks started to fill with people getting off of work to go to lunch. They walked right past us, not so much as even looking at me and the other cloaked person. Over each one of their heads, numbers started to appear. "They're back," I said to myself.

What was with the numbers? I had never heard of a crazy person seeing these kinds of things. The man asked me, "What's back?" I glanced at, what I figured was now a creation of my mind, and told him, "There are numbers over everyone's heads."

A smile formed on his face. "So, you see how many days people have left on this planet. Interesting. That might come in handy with what I need you to do." I stared down at the ground so I didn't have to see the numbers. "With what you need me to do?" I asked.

Even though this was all probably the work of my mind, I felt like I had no choice but to go along with it. The man's smile only widened even more when he said, "Yes. You're going to help me find Death's new pet and take him out while I deal with Death himself. And just to let you know now, being what your gift is, other Reaper's won't have numbers over their heads. Keep that in mind."

_Bloodhound _came back to my mind again, along with the man's name at last. I recalled that he had said it at one point last night; Rogue if I remembered right. Slowly, bits of last night were coming back, but how did I know what really happened and what was being caused by my mind?

"You can stop thinking that you've gone insane. This is all as real as it was before last night," Rogue said, as if he had heard my thoughts. I wasn't so sure about whether or not this was all real, but it did feel that way. But wasn't that how crazy people were?

They thought that everything the wasn't happening, really was? Rogue then told me, "Now, get a hold of yourself and remove your cloak. Go on with your day, and I'll be in contact with you soon. We have a long road ahead of us." Before he had the chance I leave, I asked him, "If you want to find this Death and his pet so badly, why can't you just look at the people's numbers and find them?"

He turned and faced me. "Because, I don't have the gift that you do. You see, I have this eye." He then brought his hands up behind his head and unbuckled the eye patch. When it was off, I saw a scar that ran down the right side of his face, and a blind, milky white eye.

_It….It looks just like Shun's scar, _I thought to myself with disbelief. "This eye shows me how somebody is going to die. Quite an inconvenient gift if you ask me. But it doesn't show me numbers, so I can't use it to find other Reapers. Now, I have to go. Save your questions for the next time we meet."

He put his eye patch back one, and his cloak then spun up and he was no longer standing next to me. _And I'm supposed to think that I'm not crazy? _I took in a deep breath and took off the cloak. The moment it left my body, it vanished into the air as a black dust.

Now, I was getting looks and glances from people. Above them, a sea of numbers floated, each one falling lower and lower still. _Those are how many days people have left, huh? _The numbers ranged from the hundreds of thousands, to even more.

Rogue told me that 'Reapers' didn't have numbers, so I started to look around for people without them. There were none in this crowd. I then shook my head several times. _Stop this, Dan. You're losing it…..No reason to feed it more. _Seeing now that it was too late to keep going towards the clinic, I turned around and headed back to Murucho's, refraining from looking at the numbers that now plagued me.

_Dan_

As I walked back to Murucho's, I slowly started to feel like this was actually real. That I really did die, and was brought back. As crazy as it may have seemed, I was actually starting to accept it. It was either all real, or I was just way off the deep end. I reached Murucho's in no time and walked upstairs to rejoin the others.

They were still all in the sitting room. I tried my best to keep my gaze adverted from what was floating over their heads; I didn't want to know when my friends were going to die. Murucho asked me, "How did the doctor's visit go?" Since I didn't go, I had nothing else to tell them other than a lie.

"They said they couldn't find anything wrong with me, and that it just might be a minor case of amnesia." My eyes then started to wander around the room, and they suddenly stopped on Shun. Above his head, there were no numbers. _"Reapers won't have numbers above their heads." _The scar that resembled Rogue's, along with the lack of numbers, made me put two and two together; Shun was a Reaper too.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song I'm Not Alright by Shinedown. _i know i'm using a lot of their songs, but i felt that this one really fit the chapter really well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	12. A Sick And Twisted Game Of Death

_Death_

The moon hit down on the water of the harbor, the waves distorting its reflection. Boats rested along the docks, bouncing up and down with the currents, but unable to go anywhere thanks to their ropes and anchors. I was at the city's harbor to do a job, and had just finished up. Now, all that was left was for me to leave before a fuss was started with the discovery of the man's body.

It wasn't like I had done anything wrong; it was his time to depart from this world, after all. _At least he went to a good place. So many of the souls lately are going to Hell rather than Heaven, _I thought to myself as I walked along the docks. The man, an old fisherman, had lived on this world for more than eighty years.

It was kind of depressing to take somebody after they had made it so far, but I had come to learn to separate what was left of my emotions from my work. A rustling from a stack of crates made me halt. Then, Grim came tumbling out from behind the wooden boxes, the skeleton of a fish caught in his matted hair.

"Now you're following me?" I asked flatly. Grim picked the fish remains out of his hair and tossed them on the ground. "I have a reason this time. You see, Death, I have some information you might find useful." I rested the end of my scythe on the ground and leaned against it so I wouldn't have to put all my weight on my feet. "Go on," I told him.

Grim, tapping his fingers together in a repeatative rhythm, starting to pace around me. "Word's going around that Rogue has his own Reaper understudy now," he crooned. "Just like you, Death." I stood there in silence for a moment while Grim snuck his way over near me and was about to touch the blade of my scythe.

Just as his long fingernail was about to make contact with the metal, I picked it up and moved over some. Disappointment flashed across his face. "If he has an understudy now, then that means he's making his move," I said while looking out at the water. Behind me, Grim was scratching the back of his head. "And you and I both know what that means," he sneered.

I gave him one nod, and that was all. "Yes. It means that Rogue's ready to put an end to our long dispute." I always expected this day would come. Rogue must have finally gotten tired of this seemingly endless fight between he and I, or he had finally found a Reaper worthy to side with him. All of our previous confrontations, were nothing but childsplay.

This would put an end to either his tyranny, or my reign. Grim, now next to me, was lying on the ground and spinning his hand in the water below. "Do you think the little Reaper will be ready in time?" he asked, apparently too mesmerized by the water to look up at me.

I shook my head and told him, "I don't know. All I can do is hope that he can hold his own against whoever Rogue has chosen." Grim chuckled deeply. "Yeah. This little Reaper surely isn't as disposable as the previous Reapers you've put up against Rogue."

That wasn't an understatement. This would be my last confrontation with Rogue; it wasn't like all the other times when it didn't matter if a Reaper couldn't hold their own against him. Now, I had reached the end of my resources. I sighed.

"Regardless, I don't want to see anymore Reapers be taken down by Rogue…..I've witnessed it one too many times, and I'm ready to see the end." I thought back to my previous students that had perished by Rogue's hands. He had sent them all to Hell; an unjust fate to those that were only trying to do the right thing by stopping him. Grim left the water alone, and was now sitting Indian-style beside me.

"Speaking of the little Reaper, has he mentioned anything about me lately?" he asked, looking up at me with wide eyes. I thought for a moment, then recalled a conversation I had with him. "A while back, he asked me why you kept following him around. Why have you taken such an interest in him, anyway? It's not like you to keep your eyes on one target for this long."

Grim brought his thumb up to his face, and began to chew on the end of his long, black fingernail. "He reminds me of myself when I first became a Reaper, and because of that, I want to see how long it will take him to break like I did. That, and he just has a very…..Likeable personality," he hissed with a snake-like smile. "But I must say, that this may be the first Reaper that you've also seemed to have taken a liking to as well, Death."

I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled. "I suppose it's cause he's been more pleasant to teach than the others before him. He doesn't argue all that much, and has accepted this new way of life rather well." I recalled several before him, that were so deep in denial about what they were after their first Reaping, that they might have done anything to take the deal back.

Grim fell back and stared up at the night sky. "I understand, Death. In fact, he even reminds me of you when I taught you to be a Reaper, and look how you turned out," he snickered. When I thought about it, Grim was right. I didn't fight all that much when taking his instructions into the field.

I smiled at the sentimental memory from so long ago. That time was way before Rogue's reign of terror on the world, and it was also a much simpler time. Back then, more souls seemed to go to a better place, but now, things had changed drastically.

It actually sickened me to watch this world's morals decay right beneath my feet, but what else could I do? I was the hand that sent them to the place where they belonged. If I didn't do that, then I would be no different from Rogue. Below me, and still laying on the ground, Grim began to hum a familiar tune that I had heard for as long as I had been a Reaper. Then, I joined in and sang, _"Reap their souls, Reap their souls. Where they go, only I will know."_

_Dan_

The night crept up on us, and soon it was late enough that we all decided it was time to go to sleep. I never did confront Shun on my newly aquired knowledge; I didn't feel like it was worth starting another argument with him, and there was also the factor that he might still not even speak to me.

But for the moment, I was just taking in the reality that my best friend, had really died. The fact that he was 'alive' now, didn't really register to me. It was just so much of an alien feeling to think that one of your friends did, in fact, die. But it was even stranger to think about Shun being a Reaper. Heck, it was still weird for me to accept that I was one as well.

The whole idea that I had been alive one moment, dead, and alive the next, was just so asinine. I walked into my room and flipped on the ceiling fan light. Standing in the middle of the room, was Rogue. The sudden sight of him, made me jump with surprise.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I asked, feeling somewhat like my privacy had been invaded. How did he even get in here without being seen by anyone? It then occurred to me, that he could do this teleporting thing. His bat-like wings were unfolded and rested by his sides.

"I told you I'd be in contact with you soon. You see, I like to do my work at night. It's a bit more…..Peaceful, I suppose. Oh, and here. Put these on." A pair of sunglasses formed in his hands, and he tossed them to me. I caught them, and stared at the glasses with confusion. "Um, you do know it's night, right?" I asked. Rogue cut me a curt look.

"I'm aware of that, but are you aware that you're eyes have gone under a slight change?" I spun the shades by one of its arms and said sarcastically, "Uh, yeah. I can see numbers over people's heads. Duh." Rogue rolled his eyes and told me, "Other than that. Look at them."

Wondering what he was talking about, I turned around and walked over to the mirror resting above my dresser. Sure enough, my eyes looked slightly different; they weren't immediately noticeable, but if one was close enough, they would see.

My eyes didn't look like they normally did. The color of them was a bit more red than usual, and the iris had a different pattern to it. Behind me, Rogue said flatly, "You don't want people noticing them. Plus, for some reason, glasses nullify your ability to see the numbers, so you'll only use it when you wish."

To see if he was correct, I walked over to my door and poked my head out. Lucky for me, a late night maid was turning in the for the night. Above her, I saw the days she had left to live. Then, I slid the glasses on, and saw the numbers vanish.

Stepping back in my room, I took them off and said, "Cool. How do they-" Rogue cut me off and said shortly, "I don't know why it works like that. They just do." I put the glasses back on over my eyes; at least they weren't hideous. "Now, I suggest we get started. I want to get this first lesson out of the way."

Before I could even ask what it was this lesson would be about, Rogue's wings turned into a cloak, and it engulfed both me, and him.

_Dan_

The cloak lowered and deposited us in a more deserted looking area of the city; run down businesses and garbage everywhere. Even the streetlamps were in need of some repair, but I doubted that they would ever receive any. Rogue's cloak turned back into his wings, and he began to walk past me.

"So, what exactly am I supposed to do?" I asked. His eyes searched around us, and finally fell on a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in front of us. "Take that man's soul," he said void of emotion. I turned and stared at him, as if he were mad. "What? You want me to do what?"

Rogue spoke a bit louder, as if I hadn't heard him the first time. "Take. His. Soul." I turned back to the homeless man, and lowered down the sunglasses on my eyes; he still had numbers. "But he still has some days left to live. I'd be killing him if I did this." Rogue's expression turned disapproving.

"Don't tell me I made the wrong choice. If I did, then I can send you on to the netherworld and find someone else." I felt my eyes widen. Was he serious about throwing me away like I was nothing but trash? Was I really that dispossable? I swallowed the forming lump in my throat and asked, "So…..What do I have to do?"

Rogue smiled and something started to form in his hand out of a black mist. "I have somebody that makes…Custom scythes. I thought this would be fitting for my student." It was a double-bladed scythe; one blade on each end of the handle. Rogue tossed it at me, and I caught it. Up closer on the black handle, I noticed that there seemed to be a break in it.

Pulling at the break, the handle broke into two and a chain connected the two new handles. It was kind of like nun-chucks, but with blades at the ends. I connected the handles back together to make the scythe one again. "Cool," I said, and even found mself grinning.

Rogue pointed at the sleeping homeless man and said, "Alright, now go and do as I told you to." I wasn't sure what he expected me to do; I didn't have the slightest clue as to how take somebody's soul. But all I could do was wing it.

So, I walked up to the sleeping man, and raised up the scythe. My hands began to shake, but before I could even second guess what I was about to do, I found myself slicing one of the scythe's blade into the homeless man. He shrieked out in pain, and obviously had no clue as to what was happening; all he knew, was that he was hurting.

His weazing and gasps for air stopped, signaling that he was dead. It then hit me, that I had killed somebody. Actually _killed _a person. I thought I would have felt sick and hated myself, but I actually felt…..Nothing. From behind me, Rogue said calmly, "Now, do the same thing to take his soul." I cut into the lifeless man's body, and watched as his soul was ripped out.

Images flashed before my eyes, all of the man. Rogue told me, "Ignore what you're seeing. They aren't important." He then stepped in and opened a portal in the ground. Fire lapped up at the air like hands, and I watched the man's soul get sucked into it.

The portal closed up, and Rogue turned to look at me, waiting to see what my reaction would be. After what I had witnessed, any sane person would have been appauled. But I wasn't. Instead of screaming or running away, I chuckled. "That….Was kind of fun."

* * *

**i'll get to my other story soon (in a bit of a writer's block at the moment). so, i bid thee adieu. Read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~ **


	13. Deathly Cold

_Alice_

Much to our surprise, Dan walked into the dining hall from the lobby of the mansion; all of us thought that he was still asleep. But seeing that this wasn't the case, we couldn't help but wonder when he had left Murucho's. He took his usual seat, leaning back in his chair to where the front legs left the floor.

Runo narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Take off those shades, Dan. You're inside." I hadn't even noticed the new accessory that doned his face. How I had missed them, I wasn't sure. "Migrane," was all he said to her. Even though I had missed the glasses, I did notice something else; it had gotten extremely chilly in the room once Dan walked in.

Thinking that it may have just been me, I looked around to see if anyone else appeared to be chilled. Murucho was rubbing the sides of his arms in order to warm himself up, and Julie also seemed to be at an uncomfortable temperature in the room.

So it wasn't just me that felt the sudden drop in the thermostat. It was probably just a coinscidence that the air temp dropped when Dan walked in. Perhaps a maid turned down the air, or the over-sized cooling unit kicked into overdrive. But something about Dan's demeanor felt…off.

I leaned back in my chair and glanced around the table. It was then that I saw Shun's eyes narrowed at Dan. Were those two still mad at each other? Shun then adverted his gaze to somewhere else in the room, as if his attention had been caught by something more interesting.

He then stood up from his seat and said, "Excuse me." He left the table and disappeared in a nearby room. I sighed. Things felt like they were dragging on and on at this point.

Shun was still nothing short of closed off from the rest of us, and now Dan was acting out of character. Unable to sit by in the dark any longer, I stood up, causing my seat to slide back. "I'll be right back," I told the others and slipped away in the direction that Shun had gone off in.

_Shun_

There was something off about Dan; the way he spoke, walked, and so forth. From those few things, it was like he had turned into a totally different person. He had mentioned something about having a migraine, but even I didn't act this strangely when I got one.

I had my eyes fixed on him without realizing it, but a flash of black tore my gaze from my abnormal friend. Standing in the doorway of another room, I saw Death. He motioned for me to follow him before going into the room. Not wanting to keep him waiting, I stood up and excused myself from the table without giving anyone a reason.

I slipped into the room, which was nothing more than another sitting area. Death pointed to the door behind me and said, "Close it." Nodding, I pushed the door to, but not all the way to where the latch caught; in the long run, I probably should have shut it anyway.

"Yes?" I asked now that I had done what Death had instructed me to. The emotions that he was giving off, told me that he was in some kind of distress and anxiety; he seemed to be that way more and more every day. Death crossed his arms over his chest and told me, "I think we need to spend more time on training you. Sadly, I don't have as much time as I'd like to go over everything, so we may have to rush through some lessons." I stared at him for a moment.

Why in the world was Death on such a deadline now? A feeling returned to me, one that had been there since he mentioned this one Reaper; Rogue. There was something that he wasn't telling me. I felt somewhat betrayed now. If the very being that had turned me into a Reaper and was supposed to be mentoring me through this, couldn't even tell me what was really going on, then how did I know if I could trust him or not?

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I asked, trying to keep my aggravation out of my voice. Death's mouth was set in a fine-line, never once wavering in a grin or even a smirk like usual. "No. Not yet, at least. Right now, there are more important things than talking."

I saw that he had a hold on the end of his cloak, and was about to grab onto my wrist and teleport us somewhere else; most likely for one of these lessons. But before he had the chance to do so, I flinched back and said coldly, "I'm not going anywhere until you let me know what you're keeping from me."

Death seemed to be surprised by my defiance, but I wasn't about to follow blindly any longer. I turned and was about to walk out of the room, when Death's voice stopped me. "Fine. It's concerning Rogue. I fear that he's made another move and…_might _be coming after you eventually.

I just want to make sure you're able to hold your own against him." The pause in his sentence told me that a portion of his statement was a lie, but not all of it. The part about Rogue, sounded to me like the truth. But when Death said that Rogue might be coming after me, I could tell that that was a bold-faced lie.

Although, I wasn't about to let him know that I knew that. I had considered myself lucky that Death had told me anything, and I wasn't about to press my luck. "Now, can we please get a move on? I've already fallen behind on my plans," Death said with an extended hand.

I nodded, still feeling apprehensive about him now that I knew he was lying to me. His cloak consumed us, making the ground vanish from underneath my feet. When the black curtain fell, we were in the middle of a forest. I looked around, and saw the city far away through the trees.

Water separated us from the mass of buildings, and it was then, that it occurred to me that we were on one of the small islands in the bay. Death formed his red-handled scythe in his hands and said, "I'm going to at least teach you some combat and defensive techniques in case you run into Rogue. He may already know who you are and that you are being taught by me, or he might not. Either way, I want you to be ready for anything."

I nodded and formed in my hands the scythe that Death had given to me when he got his new one. Death swung the blade of his scythe at me, and I blocked it with the handle of mine.

It was kind of like the training I went through with my grandfather; so I had at least some fighting experience to go by. I blocked a few more attacks, but Death swept the back of his scythe along the ground, catching my ankles and ripping my legs out from under me. With no balance, I fell on the ground.

A mad laughter caused me to look up, and I saw Grim hanging upside down on a tree limb. "You lasted longer than I thought you would, little Reaper!" he squealed. I jumped back up to my feet and readied myself for the next barrage of attacks.

_Alice_

The moment Shun started walking towards the door, I bolted. I had been peering in through the crack left open in the door, and was shocked by what I had discovered. Shun had been in that room and talking to himself. At that moment, I kind of wished that I hadn't followed him now that I knew that he was losing his mind. I ran back into the dining room, and all eyes turned on me.

Runo asked, "What's going on? Where did you run off to, Alice?" I bit my thumbnail, unsure about whether or not I should tell the others what I had found out about Shun. After thinking it over some, I decided it would be best to let them know; Shun was still there friend; after all.

"I….I don't think Shun is well at all….." Their eyes were even more fixed on me now. Julie played with her empty glass while she asked me, "What do you mean, Alice? Shun seemed perfectly fine to me." She may have said that, but her voice told me that she was unsure about that.

Worried that Shun would pop up behind me at any moment, I hurried up and told them what I had discovered. "You see, I just followed Shun when he left the table, and I overheard him talking to himself. I mean, he was carrying on a whole conversation as if somebody was there in the room with him."

The way these words felt on my tongue was strange. They didn't seem like they held any truth behind them, but I had seen and heard him with my own eyes and ears. _I know what happened, _I thought to myself.

Murucho straightened a crooked fork in front of him and asked me, "Are you sure there wasn't anyone in the room with him?" I nodded. I had even looked around the room to my best extent to make sure that I wasn't blowing this out of proportion. Everyone's expressions mimicked how I felt on the inside right then; surprised, confused, and worried.

Had this been going on since Shun's wreck? And if it had, how come none of us had seen any signs of him slipping from us? I turned to see how Dan was handling this news; he seemed to act as if he didn't care. Dan? Not care about his best friend losing his mind?

What was going on here? Was Shun really the one going insane, or was it me? Dan tilted his shades down and looked at me with his eyes. They widened for a moment, and he quickly pushed the glasses back up and turned away. _What was that all about? _Murucho jumped out of his seat and asked, "Is Shun still in that room?"

I nodded and watched as the short blonde ran off to the place that I had last seen Shun in. We all sat there for a moment as we waited for Murucho to return back to us. It didn't take long for him to run back into the dining hall. "I thought you said that he was still in there, Alice."

I blinked my eyes a couple of times, wondering if I would wake up from this chaotic dream. Then, I ran down the hall and back to the room that Shun had been in. Sure enough, he was no longer in there.

_Shun_

I fell down for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. Death was a bit faster that I had expected, and more than a match for what fighting skills I had. Grim was still hanging around in his tree. "Go easy on him, Death!" Grim cackled. Cuts and scrapes littered my body from the training session, and fatigue was starting to set in on me.

Death lowered his scythe and told me, "That's enough for today. I see we have a bit of a way to go before you can even last an hour with Rogue."

Death also mumbled something after that, but I was unable to catch it. Grim groaned from up in the tree and said, "Really? Is that all the fun for the day, Death?" I remained seated on the ground as I caught my breath, while Death replied to the unstable Reaper, "Yes. That's it for the day."

Grim jumped down from the tree limb, landing on his hands and feet like a cat. He then straightened up and joined Death's side. "I guess the little Reaper does need some rest now and then," he hissed. My breath finally slowed down and returned to a normal pattern, and I started to stand up.

Right as I got up to my feet, jolts of pain shot through my head, causing me to fall back down. Although it was muffled, I heard Grim ask, "What's going on with the little Reaper?" I brought my hands up to the sides of my head and buried my face into my knees to keep from shouting out.

"I think he's seeing another death," I heard Death say in an emotionless tone. The forest vanished from around me, and I was back at Murucho's. In the dining hall, to be more exact. Runo, Julie, and Murucho were gathered around in a tight circle.

Through them, I saw Kato was kneeling down beside somebody. They then backed away some, and I was able to see what all the fuss was about. Lying on the floor, was Alice. A thin line of blood streaked down from the corner of her mouth, and her limbs twitched every now and then.

I stared at the scene in horror. The sobs and yells of my friends didn't even register to me; all that I was focused on, was Alice. _Wh-what happened here? _Before I could see anything else, the dining hall vanished, and was replaced by the forest. I was laying on the ground, my body shaking as if I were freezing.

Grim was kneeling beside me and poking my arm. "Little Reaper? Are you back yet?" he asked. Death was standing nearby, his hidden gaze looking down on me while he asked, "What did you see this time?" The images replayed throughout my memory. All of the horror, and the shock still fresh. "Alice," I said. And that was all I could say.

* * *

i just realized what shall hit the world of fan fiction in less than a week...-dramatic drum roll- MY ZOMBIE SEQUEL! XD it's hard to believe that it's been a year since i started on this first one (and also hard to believe how much my writing abilities have changed since then as well o.o) im so excited to finally start this one! and when i do, i think all my other stories will be on hold until that one is finished (i might find time to get to the others, but it will most likely be on weekends). **so, hurry up and vote for the poll will be shut down after Sunday, Septembe****r** **30! **** read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~**


	14. A Deadly Mistake

_Shun_

I was finally able to bring myself to sit up, but I was still out of it thanks to what I had just seen. As unbelievable as it was, and as much as I wished that it was all a bad dream, I had witnessed Alice's death. The images were still dancing in my memory, rubbing the salt in the still open wounds that had just been inflicted. How was this going to happen though? How was Alice going to die?

The line of blood that had been trickling down the corner of her mouth, suggested that there was trauma, but I didn't recall seeing any external wounds anywhere on her during the vision. Regardless, who would even think about hurting somebody as sweet and innocent as Alice?

Even the worst of people might be unable to harm a single hair on her. Death was standing next to me, arms still folded over his chest. He sighed and said, "Looks like you're hands are always full with all of these deaths you've been seeing as of late. Oh, well. Might as well get prepared for whenever this job will pop up." My eyes widened and darted into a glare at him.

"I'm not going to take her soul!" I shouted with cold hostility in my voice. Grim tilted his head to the side, then chuckled. "It seems that we finally found out where the little Reaper draws the line," he cackled. Death must have been insane if he thought I was going to take Alice's soul away from her.

There was no way that I'd bring myself to do that to one of my friends, especially one that I cared this much about. I could feel Death's cold and disapproving gaze piercing through me. "You saw her death, which means that you have to be the one to take her soul."

Standing up, I shot a cold look at him. "No. I'm not going to," I said with defiance. Grim's eyes darting back and forth between Death and I. He then backed away and said sheepishly, "I think I'm going to let you two handle this on your own."

Death looked back at me and asked coldly, "Why won't you take this person's soul? Is it because you know them and are friends? Well, you know what? You have to get over that and do the job that you were given, or else suffer the consequences. It's part of being a Reaper, and if you are unable to cut the rope of connections, then punishment will be served. That's how the world works for you now. Get over it."

The harshness in his voice was enough to make me cringe. This guy was serious; he really expected me to take Alice's soul. _And he acts like he doesn't even care. _It was then, that I saw what my future years may hold for me. I would become like Death; taking more and more souls, and with each one, becoming more and more isolated from the emotional ties that bound me to so many people.

I would stand by, and watch as people that I knew, passed away with time, all while I remained attached to this world to watch how the future plays out. These thoughts never once crossed my mind when Death offered me a wager of eternal life cause I died when I wasn't supposed to.

No matter if I tried to escape this, I would always be Death's shadow. Every step I took, would be shrouded with the cold hand of afterlife. And each person I passed, would be nothing more than another possible job in the future. By the way things were looking, life would lose all of its personal meaning to me. It would just become another thing.

Was this really what I asked for? To become cold and heartless, not caring about anyone or who they once were? Because that's how it appeared to be for Death; he didn't seem to care. Same went for Grim; he even had his own song made for Reaping souls.

How could I have not even thought any of this through? Had the want to continue to live clouded over my judgment that much? Death's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

He said, "When this death's time arrives, you will do as you are supposed to and take the person's soul. Simple as that. If you refuse, then you shall accept the punishment that will be given to you. Understood?"

When I thought about it, I had already taken many souls so far. One more…..Couldn't be that difficult…Right? I nodded my head and mumbled, "I'll try my best."

_Dan_

I constantly checked the clock on my phone, readying myself for when I was supposed to met up with Rogue again. He had planned for lessons each night until he said otherwise. Again, I checked my phone; I had ten minutes until I was supposed to leave and meet up with him.

I had to admit, I was actually enjoying the job of being a Reaper so far. I had power that hardly anyone else could even begin to fathom; the power over who lives, who dies, and where they go. It was enough to give a person somewhat of a high.

Rogue had mentioned to me that not all Reapers were like him; some of them didn't approve of what he was doing for some reason, and that they didn't Reap souls for the sheer enjoyment of it. Why they didn't do that, I had no clue. It was such a rush, and how none of them had fallen victim to it, was beyond me.

My shades fell lower on the bridge of my nose, and Alice's number caught my eye. Yes, number. She didn't have a high number like the others I had seen. In fact, it appeared to be that her life clock was dropping faster and faster. Her days, were literally numbered. It did bother me somewhat that Alice was going to die soon, but it wasn't my problem; everyone was going to die eventually.

But if it were up to Rogue, they would die sooner, but only those who truly deserved to die, or would not be missed by anyone. Kind of like that homeless man that had been my first Reaped soul. Rogue made the point later on, that nobody would miss the man.

Thus, it did not matter if his life was taken from this world. The minutes on my phone's clock flipped over, finally giving my departure time. I stood up from the sofa that I had been residing on, and told the others, "I have somewhere to go. I'll be back sometime later."

I could feel their eyes follow me as I left the room. It was a given that they were wondering what had been up with me, for I hadn't been putting forth the slightest effort to hide my newly acquired behavior. As I walked out of the lobby, I passed by a butler that I had not seen before.

From behind the paper bags filled with food, he gave me a slight nod and went on his way. I did the same, not questioning where the new employee had come from, and left the mansion. Slipping behind a large building, I slipped on my black cloak, and teleported myself, just as Rogue had taught me to.

I was then dropped off to our usual meeting place; the same stretch of city block that I had Reaped the homeless man on. I found Rogue standing in the middle of the empty street, his bat-like wings expanded to their fullest extent. "I'm here," I said as I started to approach.

Rogue lifted his head up toward the sky and said harshly, "My patience has grown thin now. These lessons have been stretched out as far as they can go, and I'm ready for action." I wasn't sure what he was talking about; he had only spent a full night and a portion of a morning training me on how to be a Reaper.

How could he have already grown annoyed and tired, when I was still eager to learn more? Suddenly, a bad feeling came over me, and it screamed for me to get away. Something, no. Nothing was right about this now.

The high that I had been experiencing from the power, immediately wore off now that my common sense kicked in; this was wrong. I was about to dart off, but Rogue's hand latched onto my shoulder. His nails dug into the muscle, causing me to lose all the fight that had built up inside me from the moment of realization.

"So," he started. "To speed up the process, why don't I just share my powers with you and make you more than ready for the challenge ahead? Yes. That's a wonderful idea."

A wave of pain crashed into my body from my shoulder. I could feel Rogue's power start to flood into me like water, and it was more than I could handle, for I didn't remember anything afterwards.

_No One_

The shady butler that nobody ever remembered being hired at the Marakura mansion, slipped past the other workers without so much as a question. Holding a bag of groceries, which was nothing more than a cover-up for the real plan, he slipped into the kitchen.

Chefs and servants were running around frantically as they prepared the food for their employers. This was more than an adequate scenario for the mysterious butler's intentions. He walked over to one of the many stoves, and set down his bag of groceries.

As to not gather any attention to himself, he started to act as if he were busy; cutting up carrots and other vegetables. After glancing around for a moment or two, he left his station and caught sight of several glasses of drinks. They were to be served to the dinner guests tonight.

Flagging down a hurried chef, he asked, "Which of these goes to who? I'd be more than welcome to take them out there to our guests and save somebody else the time." The chef pointed to whose drink was whose, but all the new butler cared about, was which one was going to the Marakura's son.

He picked up the platter of drinks, and made his way back over to the place where he had been chopping up vegetables. He set the drinks down and made sure nobody was looking his way. Once he was sure that he wasn't being watched, he reached into the bottom of the paper bag, and pulled out a small package with a white substance inside.

He tore open the package, and dumped the powder into the drink of the Marakura son. Using a knife that was lying nearby, he stirred the drink until the mixture dissolved and was no longer visible. The shady butler tossed away the empty package and took the drinks out to the guests, a snake-like grin plastered on his face, for he had done his job, and the rest would follow.

_Runo_

A butler finally brought out the drinks that we had so long been waiting for. I received mine, then Julie got hers, then, Alice, and lastly, Murucho. The platter that had been holding the glasses, was now empty, and the butler no longer had a reason to stay with us.

It was strange without Dan's loud presence at the table; it wasn't so much different without Shun cause it would still be quiet. Although, after Alice told us that he had been talking to himself, I wasn't so sure. And even though nobody at the table brought it up, we were all wondering where Shun was.

He had suddenly vanished a while ago, right after Alice informed us that he had been talking to himself. Perhaps he had overheard her telling us, and decided to bolt out of fear. But that didn't sound like Shun. Then again, I doubted that anyone knew what this 'new' Shun was like.

I sipped on my drink; a diet soda. Murucho, at the end of the table, examined his drink closely, and sniffed the liquid. He then groaned and said, "They gave me tea again. I'm so sick of drinking this all the time." I didn't find it fair that Murucho had to have a strict diet because of who he was, while the rest of us had the freedom to eat and drink what was desired.

Alice looked at her glass, then smiled one of her warm smiles. "You can have my soda, Murucho. I haven't touched it yet," she said and offered him her drink. He smiled brightly and exchanged the drinks with her. "Thank you so much, Alice. You're so kind," he said before taking a big gulp of the newly acquired soda.

His facial expression made it look like it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Alice, still smiling, took a sip of Murucho's tea and set the glass back down. The moment the glass touched the table, I saw her eyes grow wide. Her hands began to tremble slightly around the glass.

She then fell out of her chair, body landing on the floor below. None of us wasted a minute to run over to her. Murucho, Julie, and I were all crowded around Alice, panicking and not knowing what to do in order to help our friend. Her limbs were still trembling as if she were having some kind of distorted seizure.

Then, a fine line of blood trickled down the side of her mouth. Kato, carrying a platter of food, walking into the dining hall. At the sight of what was happening, he dropped the plate and ran over to us. He checked Alice's pulse, then shouted, "Somebody call for some help!" Julie and I had taken a couple of steps back, tears pouring from our eyes.

Murucho, his face turned ghostly white, was pacing back and forth. Soon, medics and police showed up and stormed in the mansion. Police were already questioning people, and the medics were trying to see what was happening to our dear friend. And amidst the chaos, I noticed Shun walk into the dining hall.

His eyes widened at the scene before him, as if he had seen a ghost standing in front of us. He stood frozen in that place for a moment, almost like he was debating over something, but his shocked expression never changed. Then, he ran a shaking hand through his hair, and bolted out of the mansion.

* * *

unexpected, or not? you decided. well, that's all for now. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	15. The Price To Pay

_Runo_

The medics that had arrived earlier rushed Alice off to the nearest hospital for treatment. And even though none of them said anything to us, we felt that things had turned on Alice for the worst. What gave this away, was their somber silence. Julie, Murucho, and I were unable to follow the ambulance and accompany Alice on the way to the hospital due to an ongoing interrogation being held by the police.

They had locked down the entire mansion, making sure that nobody else got in or left until the investigation was closed. I was hoping that it would all be over soon, for I wanted nothing more than to be my ailing friend's side. But for now, all I could do was wait.

The three of us sat in the dining hall and never once said a word to anybody unless we were spoken to first. Behind us, Kato was telling an officer what had happened up to the point of when he walked into the room and saw Alice. Murucho was sitting across from me, his fingers tapping a nervous beat on the table. He looked like a total mess, and I knew that he was blaming himself for what happened.

He had no reason to be though. The police had already determined that there had been some kind of poison in the tea that had been given to Murucho, but there was no way that our friend could have known when he passed the glass to Alice.

Officers were running back and forth from room to room, hunting for the person that had spiked the drink. It was such a surreal experience when I thought about it; somebody had tried to kill Murucho, that was obvious. But the way that things had turned and played out, could only be discerned as a twist of fate.

Suddenly, I heard shouts coming from the kitchen, and several officers had a man restrained by handcuffs. They then pushed him down on the floor, pinning him under their weight. Immediately, I recognized him as the butler that had brought the drinks out to us. He continued to struggle underneath the three or four officers on top of him, but it was all futile.

One of the officers said to us through gritted teeth, "We found him hiding in one of the pantries. When he saw us he tried to run, but didn't get too far. Quit squirming, you!" The hiding and fact that this person tried to run, could only mean that he was the guilty one. I stared down at this man, wondering how anyone could do such a thing. His eyes looked no different that anyone else's, and I at least thought that the eyes of a killer would be different.

The captive then shouted, "I was just doing my job, alright! It's my job to kill the rich! The voices of those who had suffered unfairly by the hands of the rich told me so! They placed this burden upon me! It is what's right!" Murucho stared down at the man, fear and a disturbed tint glittered in his eyes.

The officers picked the man up and carried him outside, most likely to a police car to take him into custody. After a moment or two, a police officer walked up to us. He then began to tell us what had just unfolded before our eyes.

"This man, he's done this to several other wealthy families, but we've never been able to catch him up until now. It's also been ruled out that he has mental issues. You all are free to leave the building now while we look around for some more evidence. But I do believe that Mr. and Mrs. Marakura want their son to be with them."

Murucho nodded and allowed the officer to escort him to his parents. I couldn't even begin to think about all of what Murucho was going through. It must have been such a pain to know that he had been the target of a killer, and cause of that, Alice was now suffering. Julie and I remained at the table.

She then asked me, "Do you want to go see Alice?" I stared at my reflection in the well-polished wood table, surprised by how tired I appeared to be. "I want to…..But I also don't….What do you think we should do, Julie?" I looked up to her for the answer to my question, but she seemed to be just as lost as me.

She then told me, "How about we try and contact Shun and Dan to let them know what's happened?" I then remembered that I had seen Shun walk into the dining hall, then run the moment he saw Alice, almost as if he had known what was going on.

His reaction puzzled me; normally, he would have jumped into the fire to help, but he ran. Why? Julie snapped her fingers in front of my face, pulling me from the abyss of my thoughts. "Huh?" She stared at me with concerned eyes. "I was asking if you have your phone on you cause mine died….," she trailed off.

Maybe it was because she had used the word died in the wake of all that had just occurred. I nodded and dug around in my coat pocket, then pulled out my phone. Julie took it and dialed what appeared to be Dan's number first. After five minutes, and no answer from him, Julie tried Shun's number.

Again, there was no answer from him either. Julie kept trying to reach the two boys, but to no prevail. The world suddenly started to feel like it was losing its structure, and all I could think of was, _What's going on?_

_Shun_

I didn't even stay to see ask what was happening, for I already knew; it was my vision becoming a reality. What had thrown me off though, was how early it had happened. I was expecting in a day or so, not in the same two hour time slot as when I had the vision.

It was almost too much for me to handle. I stopped running and turned it into a slow-paced walk. The heavy reality of this was finally weighing down on my shoulders; Alice was dying. Suddenly, a hand lurched out of the shadows and grabbed my wrist.

My instincts told me to react, so I pulled back. Death then stepped out of the shadows, followed by Grim. I felt my mentors harsh eyes on me, even though I could not see them. He had lectured me about how I had to do what was now my God-given right, and I had just failed.

I was unable to bring myself to do this deed, and I knew the punishment was about to come. Death sighed. "I thought I told you to get over it and take her soul. I had a feeling that you might back down, so I followed you and watched the whole thing. You should be ashamed."

My jaw tightened, and my hand had turned into a fist. "Why should I be ashamed for not wanting to take the soul of somebody that I care about?" I asked through gritted teeth.

Death crossed his arms over his chest and said, "You should be ashamed because you, the Reaper who is supposed to Reap her soul, have not done your job. And because of that, she's now suffering cause her soul cannot pass on to the next life. If you really care so much about this person, then why will you allow this kind of torment to befall her?"

I felt myself fly off the handle and shout, "She's not suffering! And I'm not tormenting her!" How could he even make such an accusation? To say that this was tormenting Alice, was such an absurd thing. If anything, allowing her a few extra moments on this planet should have been a blessing.

Death suddenly asked me, "Do you know what it is like to have your soul trapped in your body after death? It's a horrible feeling, and if it is not taken care of sooner or later, then the spirit will work its way out. That's how you get restless souls that wander the Earth. Do you really want that for your friend?"

I adverted my gaze from Death, and focused it on the ground in front of me. Not a single part of me wanted to believe what he just told me. _He's saying that to make me Reap Alice's soul. That's got to be it, or else he would have told me this when I first became a Reaper…._ But no matter how I tried to convince myself otherwise, it all felt like a lie, and that there was no way around this.

"I-I…I still refuse to do this….." I stuttered. Regardless of whether or not this was more detrimental to Alice than good, I didn't feel that I could bring myself to do what was expected of me. Death shook his head underneath the black hood of his cloak.

"So, you're positive that you're not going to Reap this soul?" he asked me. I nodded to let him know that I still stood behind my statement. He sighed. "Then it looks like I have no choice but to take you to the Reaper council and let them figure out what to do with you."

My eyes that had been closed, shot open when he said that. What would they do to me? Would they pity me for not wanting to take the soul of a person I was close to? Grim, nervously scratching the side of his arm, said cautiously, "Now, don't you think you could go a bit lighter on the little Reaper? I remember many times when you refused to Reap souls, and I wasn't nearly this strict on you for a while. I mean, he is still new to all of this."

I was suddenly grateful to Grim for standing up for me, but I somehow felt that it was all in vain. Death retorted back by telling him, "The council is a bit stricter on these kinds of things now than they were when I was learning. I'm sorry, Grim, but I cannot be lenient on him.

He knows the consequences for something like this." Grim sighed and said quietly, "My….How the times have changed….." Death turned to me and said, "Ready to go?" I nodded and before I could blink, the black cloak of Death swallowed us up.

The moment it lowered, I found myself standing in a medieval looking castle. Banners and tapestries of the different interpretations of Death hung on the stone walls. "The council already knows why you are here. Go up those stairs, and you'll find yourself in the council chamber."

Death then vanished from my side, leaving me to feel as if I had been given up on. But law was law, right? I wanted this more than to take Alice's soul. I did as Death instructed me to and ascended the stairs. Sure enough, I was faced with two large, wooden doors.

Guarding them, were two Reapers donned in black cloaks and holding scythes in their hands. One of them lifted his hand, and the doors swung open. "Proceed," he told me. I walked into the room, and felt a gush of air hit me as the doors slammed closed. In front of me, was a large podium-like structure, and way up at the top of it, were three Reapers.

They took off their hoods, revealing beings that appeared to be in their middle years by human standards. Their hawk-like eyes shot down at me, and I felt the spotlight turn on me.

One of council stood up and said, "You are here today because of failure to fulfill your duties as a Reaper. Taking in account how many days you have been under this position, and also viewing the reason, punishment is imprisonment until seen fit by the council. Guards, take him."

The two guards from the door took hold of my arms, and I offered them no resistance. They led me down a maze of staircases until we finally reached a chamber of prison cells. Each one looked like they could have been from hundreds of years ago, and the smell of mold matched; this most certainly wasn't a pleasant place.

I walked past cells and saw that some of them held prisoners. Their eyes followed me as I walked by, showing me the want to be on the other side of the iron door that held them captive. And this was where the story started; handcuffed to the stone wall of the cell I was locked in, a water droplet falling from the ceiling and onto my scarred eye.

As I sat there on the tightly-packed dirt floor of the cell, I thought about what was about to become of Alice. Death would probably do the job that I wouldn't, or he already had.

There was no way for me to know now. I tilted my head back and shut my eyes. It was too late for me to do anything now, expect to wait out this punishment and then brace for what would await for me outside of these stone walls.

* * *

there shall be no upload tomorrow due to the sport known as football. but there will probably be one saturday. also,** vote on my poll** if you have no already done so, for **the poll closes down sunday!** read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	16. A Fight To The Death

_Shun_

Somehow, I had found a way to fall asleep in the cell that I had been thrown in the by the guards. Perhaps it was cause of the deathly still silence that flowed like a river through the stone walls, but one would have thought that a prison filled with prisoners, would have held more noise.

But it did not. The prisoners that accompanied the neighboring cells, had never even muttered a word. Before I had drifted off, I wondered how long some of them had been locked away in here. Months? Years? Or even eternities? It made me nervous to know how long I would be in here and joining them. _It's a bit too late to be second guessing my choice though. _

When I confirmed to Death that I was never going to take Alice's soul, I had immediately accepted the consequences that would be handed to me. So what if I was stuck in a dark, soggy cell for a couple of years? Those council Reapers could have done worse to me, I was sure of that.

Although, I couldn't help but feel foolish. In all of the logical reasoning I had, how could I never have seen that it would come down to me taking one of my own friends' souls? Through my half-awake and half-asleep state, I heard the rattling of metal.

The only sound in this entire place woke me, and when I opened my eyes, I was surprised by what I saw. Knelt down in front of the iron bar door of my cell was Grim. He had his long fingernails stuck in the lock, and with one twist of them, the door slowly swung open.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I asked, still not sure what of this. He pulled his fingernails out and examined them for a moment. "I'm getting you out of here, little Reaper. What else does it look like….Darn….Looks like I chipped the end of one of my nails doing that."

He then shrugged his shoulders and walked over to me, where he proceeded to pick the locks on the cuffs that pinned me against the wall and made sure that I wouldn't run off if given the chance. The locking mechanism came undone, and the cuffs fell at my sides.

A rush of relief came to me now that I was able to put my arms down. Rubbing my wrists where the cuffs had been, I asked, "Why in the world are you doing this? You'll get in trouble if somebody finds out." So far, Alice was the only one that was possibly paying for my choices, and I wasn't going to let anyone else suffer because of me.

Grim's hair hid his twisted looking eyes from my sight, and a coy grin slid across his face. He said smoothly, "Because…..You still have a task at hand." He then grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me up to my feet. "Now, let's get a move on!" he shouted, his voice returning to its shrill tune. Grim then ran out of the cell, and cautiously, I followed behind.

_Shun_

Grim had snuck us out of the Reaper council castle through a secret passageway. While winding through the tunnels, I asked, "Why can't you just teleport us out of here? It would save some time…." I still wasn't sure if this was a good idea; breaking out of prison probably wouldn't settle well with the Reaper council since it hardly set well by human law.

Grim ran a hand along the stone walls as we walked. "The castle has powers held over it by the council to limit what Reapers can do inside of it. Teleporting is one of those things, little Reaper." Grim continues to navigate these tunnels as if he had been in them all of his life.

_He probably has, knowing him. _Then, I asked him something that had been bugging me since he broke me out of that cell. "What will they do if they find out I'm not here anymore?" Grim chuckled.

"You'd be lucky if they even remember you were ever here. The council is really bad about forgetting that prisoners are down in those cells. For all we know, most of those that were locked down in there were probably way past there release dates. I'm doing you a favor by getting you out of here, little Reaper."

He then stopped walking, nearly causing me to run into his back. Grim then began to run his hand along on the stone wall, and when he passed a certain stone, a door that I had not noticed at first, opened. He smirked and crooned, "I love that the Reaper council created this escape route. It's so handy."

We stepped out of the door and into the cool night air. Hanging overhead, was a full and bright moon in the sky. The landscape was filled with rolling hills, trees, and lakes that secluded this place from the eyes of the rest of this world. It really was a paradise lost.

And when I thought about it, this was actually the headquarters of death. To be honest, any normal person would have pictured such a place with more doom and gloom, but I had come to think otherwise. Not everything was as it appeared to be when you started to look closer.

Grim extended his arms up above his head and took in a deep breath. "It's good to be outside! Is it not, little Reaper? Oh! I suppose we should leave now that we're out of the castle. Yes, that would be a good idea." He then swung his cloak up and the tattered ends of it wrapped around me.

Just like the other times that I had been teleported via Reaper cloak, I was in a totally different place when it lowered down. The moment I was able to see my surroundings, I saw that I was back in the city. The streets were empty, the lights of businesses and apartments didn't even glow with the faintest of lights; all the signs of it being late in the night.

Above me, I caught the glimpse of a black cloak. Then, Grim waved his hands above his head and shouted, "Death! Look what I've got with me!" The Reaper landed on the roof of the building he was jumping to, and looked down at us. I didn't even have to see his face to know that his eyes were probably ablaze with either anger, disapproval, or surprise.

He then jumped down from the building and stomped over to us. "Grim! What in the world are you doing with him! He's supposed to be locked away by order of the council as punishment!" Grim waved a nonchalant hand and paced in a circle around Death.

"Now, Death, you know I couldn't just let the little Reaper rot in that cell. Besides, he still has much to do, and you know it," he said the last part almost with a growl. Death then shot a look at me, creating that deer-in-the-headlights feeling.

Already, I felt that I would be thrown back to the Reaper council before the night was over with. Grim then placed his hand on Death's shoulder and said, "Oh, come, now! Get the scythe out of your back end, Death! I think he learned his lesson, have you not, little Reaper?"

Realizing that I was being spoken to, I nodded my head to give my answer. It was true; I had learned my lesson, and would never go against what was now my job. That is, as long as it never came down to my friends again. If that was ever the case, then I wasn't so sure if I could bring myself to Reap their souls.

Death sighed and said, "Whatever. This will be discussed some other time. Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have work that needs attending to." Grim ran in front of Death and asked with a twisted grin, "What kind of work?" Death turned his head and looked at me from under his hood, and for the first time, I actually saw his eyes; they were ablaze with gold, and held an ominous aura that told those who saw him, that he was not one to mess with.

"I was on my way to do the job that your 'little Reaper' was unable to," he said harshly. My eyes widened. Alice had still yet to have her soul taken, meaning that she was still in this world for the time being. I wanted to shout for him not to go and take her soul, but I held my words back. It was no use.

There was no point in trying to stop what was inevitable from the beginning. And yet, I had enough of my foolish human feelings left that I had tried to stop an already planned out fate. Sadly, I had been in too much shock to realize that there was nothing that could have been done to change what was already written down somewhere.

Death looked at Grim and I and said, "I must be on my-" He was cut off by a laughter from above. The laugh wasn't twisted like Grim's, but more evil than anything else. I looked up as well and followed Death's gaze. There, I saw a figure leaning over the roof of a building, two bat-like wings silhouetted by the silver disk that was the moon.

One red eye blazed brightly against the rest of the blacked-out figure. Grim tapped his fingers together and said in an amused tone, "Ah, Rogue. What do we owe these pleasantries?" So, this was Rogue? Death had told me about this Reaper's evil deeds that he had committed, and his appearance fit the bill of one that had hatred in his heart.

Rogue ignored Grim's question, and I saw his red eye shift towards Death and I. It was like an arctic chill shot through me, and I was unable to keep eye contact. Rogue chuckled.

"So, Death, this is the latest sacrifice you're giving me? I have to admit, he isn't nearly as…..Ferocious looking as the previous ones. Pickings must be slim in the Reaper world. Regardless, I will enjoy this being our last encounter, Death. And when it's all over, there will be nobody else left to stand in the way of what I love to do."

Some of his words got to me. Like sacrifice. That one grabbed the majority of my attention. "What's he talking about?" Death had told me that Rogue might have been looking for me, but he never truly told me why. Rogue laughed.

"Why, Death, you haven't even told your little pet why he was chosen by you? How….Amusing. Listen, kid. Death and I have been at odds end for quite some time now, but he has refused to fight me Reaper to Reaper. He's always had a pet Reaper with him, and it's safe to say…..He has had no winners so far. They have all been sent to a flaming eternity thanks to me. But Death knows like I do, that this shall be our final, grand encounter! It will be me against him, and you against my pawn."

Now, I knew. I had been nothing more than an unknowing chess piece for these two. True, I had been given a second chance, but I had not been told what else I had signed up for. I cut a look at Death, who was too busy looking up at his future opponent.

It sickened me that I had not been told. This was somebody that I had started to trust, and I hadn't known any of the truth. Now, I was probably going to suffer the same fate as every one of Death's Reapers before me. My hands tightened into fists by my sides, and I shouted up at Rogue, "Alright, then! If I'm supposed to fight this 'pawn' of your's, then let's see him! I'm ready to go whenever you are!"

Rogue appeared to be surprised by my outburst. Or maybe, that was amusement. His lips curved up to a twisted smile. "Now, I can tell why there was some interest taken in you, Reaper. You have plenty of fight to go around. Alright, then. I supposed I've wasted enough time. Let the game begin."

He lifted up his hand and snapped his fingers. Then, the sound of metal cut through the air, and a scythe was slung down from somewhere above, and stuck into the asphalt of the street beside me.

I fell back onto the ground, and stared at it in shock. That was when I noticed that the scythe stuck in the street, was about the size of one cut in half, but attached to the end, was a chain.

My eyes followed up the chain and saw what was connected to the other end. It was a cloaked figure, holding the other half of the scythe. Then, he yanked the scythe out of the asphalt, leaving behind a thin cut. The cloaked figure that was my opponent, jumped down from the building and landed in front of me.

Everything about this individual oozed rage and hate. The figure stood there for a moment, and I knew his eyes were examining over me like a predator does its prey. He then chuckled darkly, and tore the cloak off of him. When it fell on the ground, I saw that it was Dan that had been hidden underneath.

* * *

**remember, people! tomorrow is the ABSOLUTE LAST DAY to VOTE on the new TITLE to my zombie fic! after that, you have to deal with what the majority voted on! read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~**


	17. Enemies

_Alice_

I was in a pain like no other that I had felt before. It radiated throughout my whole body, each pulse bringing more and more agony to me. But I could not scream to let anyone around me know that I was not well. Anytime I tried, it caught in my mouth, and only came out as a quiet whimper.

Help also would never come for me, because there wasn't anyone around me. All I was able to see, was blackness. I was floating in the darkness, my hair and dress moving around as if it was water I was in, rather than air. Everything I felt around me, was cold and unforgiving.

What had happened to me? Had I died? I recalled drinking Murucho's tea, and that was all. The rest, was all a blank. Although, I heard the sounds of sobs and yelling after I blacked-out. Far above me, was a light. It was….Nice. I could feel it calling to me, beckoning for me to go to it and join its serenity.

But I could not move. I was bound to float in this black abyss forever it seemed. Was this really what is was like to die? To be in this much pain and agony? I felt an icy cold tear roll down my cheek. I just wanted this to end. If dying again meant that I would be free from this, then I would have chosen it.

_Please, somebody have mercy on me. Anybody….Please._ My pleas fell on deaf ears, and I knew that nobody was going to come and help end my suffering. My eyes, half open, continued to stare at the light above me. At first, the call it gave to me was welcomed, now it was taunting me, making a fool of me because I could not embrace its warmth.

I hated it now. I wanted it to be absorbed in this darkness of death like I was being. How was it fair that it was there, not helping me but wanting me, and not being absorbed in the pain that floated in the air around me?

_Go away. Go away, _I silently begged it, no longer wanting to be in its judgmental eyes. If I were to die in this place and in pain, I did not want something so peaceful to be there with me.

_Shun_

Pure shock was all that could have described what I was feeling the moment the cloaked figure revealed himself to be Dan, my best friend. His eyes were wide, the pupil all but a small dot in the center of a vast whiteness, and they glowed red like Rogue's. "Dan…." When did all of this happen?

It was obvious just by looking at him now, that he was a Reaper. But when did he die? And how? It then occurred to me that Rogue must have done this somehow. "What did he do to you, Dan?" I asked softly. My friend only snarled at me like a rabid animal, then charged at me.

The double-bladed scythe swung at me with attacks that refused to let up, and I felt the edge of one of the blades cut into my leg. It wasn't a deep cut, but it stung to no end. "Dan! Stop! It's me!" I shouted, hoping to bring back any that may have been left of my friend. Dan charged at me, and I quickly summoned my scythe and blocked the attack. While keeping Dan at bay, I caught a glimpse of Death and Rogue.

They were locked in a combat more fierce that what I was being faced with. I pushed Dan away from me. He only took a step back and narrowed his wild eyes at me. "Please, Dan! Snap out of it! This isn't you!" I shouted at him again. He then swung the scythe at me, the handle leaving his hand, and the blades spinning end over end. Seeing the weapon coming right at me, I dove to the ground.

The scythe continued on its path, and one of the blades cut into a streetlight, slicing the steel pole right in half. I then watched as the scythe did like a boomerang and returned to Dan's hands. I think that was when fear really took over me, and I began trembling.

It was clear to me now that Dan's only goal, was to kill me. I stood up, staring at me friend as if he had suddenly transformed into some kind of monster before my eyes. But I wasn't going to fight him. This was my best friend, who obviously wasn't right in the head now. "I'm not going to fight you, Dan!" I told him and lowered my scythe to my side.

He bared his teeth in a snarl and growled, "Then this won't be nearly as fun!" The first words he had said since all of this started, and he sounded like a mad animal. It shocked me. How had my friend become something like this? He then broke the scythe in half, revealing the chain that was inside and held the two pieces together. He swung one of the hand scythes at me, and I just barely dodged it.

Behind me, it dug its way deeply into the brick wall of a building. The chain now hung beside me right at shoulder-level. Then, Dan gave the chain one good tug, ripping the embedded scythe out of the wall behind me. And somehow, the momentum of the scythe, made the chain wrap around my neck.

Dan held both scythes in his hands, the chain loosely around my neck as if it were a leash for a dog. I knew my eyes had to be wide. "Dan….Don't," I begged. He then let a sadistic smirk grace his lips, and he pulled on the scythes, causing the chain to rip into my neck and cut off my air.

I began to claw at the chain to get off, all while gasping. But with each breath I took, the chain only got tighter. I was trying anything I could to break free; stepping back in hopes that I would yank one of the scythes away from Dan, and pulling at the metal around my neck.

Neither of those things were working. "Stop…..," I gasped. The edges of my vision had started to turn fuzzy. Dan narrowed his eyes at me, then looped the chains around his hands once and gave them another tug. They tightened even more around my neck, and I was suddenly yanked down onto the ground. Dan ran over to me, and hand even more of the chain looped over his hands.

He then pinned me down by putting his foot on my chest, making it all the more difficult to breathe. His cold and unwavering eyes stared down at me, and their only want was to see me die slowly. _This…..This isn't Dan…._ Tears were starting to spill over from my eyes as the chain got tighter and tighter.

"Please….," I begged through an increasingly raspy voice. I wasn't even struggling to get the chain off my neck anymore, for almost all of my strength was now gone. Dan then lifted the hand scythes and swung them at me. The back of the blades lightly grazed my skin with each swing, leaving behind burning cuts and gashes in my body.

He was going to make me suffer till the end. Now, I laid there, a chain still tightening around my throat, and bloody gashes littering my body. Through teary eyes, I saw Dan lift one of the hand scythes above his head, and I had a feeling that this would be the end of me.

I shut my eyes and braced myself for the final blow, but it never came. Suddenly, I heard the sound of something like metal hitting against metal. Able to slightly open my eyes, I saw Grim had extended the end of his cloak out and had blocked the arc of Dan's attack. Dan stood there dumbfounded.

"That should have cut through your cloak!" he snarled and swung at Grim again. I saw as the blade skidded off of the Reaper's tattered cloak, sending an array of sparks flying off as if the fabric had been made of steel. Grim cackled. "Young Reaper, I know more tricks than you can possibly count. Like this one for example." Grim held up two fingers on each hand, his index and middle fingers, then stabbed Dan several times in the sides with them.

My friend gasped and collapsed onto the ground, not moving a single muscle. Around my neck, I felt the chain loosen up some, but I was left too weak to take them off. Grim knelt down beside me and unwrapped the chains. He helped me sit up, and the whole world spun out of control around me.

Once things started to return back to normal as blood and oxygen rushed back to my brain, I brought my hand up to my neck. There was a warm liquid where I touched, and when I looked at my hand, it was soaked with blood. The chain had been tight enough to cut into my neck, and thankfully, not enough to sever an artery.

Dan was still lying on the ground, his teeth bared in a snarl. "What did you do to me, Reaper!" he wailed. Grim snickered and said, "Don't worry, young Reaper. You'll be able to move sooner or later. Little Reaper, are you okay?" I was staring at Dan. He was trying to move, but was only able to move his head and neck around.

My friend kept snarling like a wild animal and shouting. "That's not Dan…," I said, my voice still raspy from the damage the chain had done. Grim gazed down at my friend and said, "It is your friend on the outside, just not the inside. Don't worry, little Reaper. When this is all over, we'll get him some help."

Grim helped me up to my feet; something I would have been too weak to do on my own. "No! You can't have possibly taken out my pawn!" a voice shouted from above. Suddenly, Rogue flew down and landed in front of us, his eyes blazing with fury.

I then started to look around for Death, who he had been previously fighting. I asked, "Where's Death!" He smirked and said, "I don't think he'll be bothering us for a little bit." Grim then stepped in front of me, extending his arm out to keep me behind him. "I've got him, little Reaper," he told me sternly.

I nodded and was about to take a step back when Rogue leaped at Grim. The Reaper pushed me out of the way, causing me to land on the ground and nearly shout out from pain. Grim quickly summoned his scythe and was countering each attack from Rogue, but even I saw that the experienced Reaper was having trouble.

I was able to stand up on my feet, and began to look around for Death. I couldn't find him anywhere on the ground, or on the rooftops. "Watch out, little Reaper!" Grim shouted as he and Rogue made their way over to me. A scythe swung over my head, and I ducked just in time and fell back on the ground.

Now, the two Reapers were fighting right in front of me; Grim closer to me and Rogue in front of him. I was about to try and sit up, when I heard a sickening sound of flesh being torn open. Then, a warm substance flew into the air. When I touched some that had landed on my face, I saw that it was blood.

Terrified, I looked up and gasped. A blade pointing upwards, stuck out of Grim's back. Rogue held the handle of the scythe and got near Grim's face and hissed, "Losing your touch, old timer." He then pushed the blade even deeper into Grim, causing the Reaper to whimper

. Then, much to my surprise, Grim chuckled lightly. "Oh, really? Never knew I had any touch to begin with," he said weakly with a cackle. This only angered Rogue, and caused him to push the blade even further into the Reaper. Grim stood there, blood soaking his clothes, and said, "You know what the difference is between you and this little Reaper, Rogue? He's accepted what he is, and you still won't admit you're a monster."

Grim then spit in Rogue's face. Rogue's expression turned into a fiery rage and he jerked the scythe out of Grim's body, causing a flood of blood to escape the wound. Grim wobbled a bit, then fell to the ground. I stared at the fallen Reaper for a moment, then remembered what loomed over me.

Slowly, I looked up at Rogue, knowing that fear was visible on my face. He wiped his face off, then he began to examine me. "Looks like you've been cursed with that damn eye like me," he said coldly and lifted his scythe up, then back of the blade right in front of my right eye and where my scar was.

_Death_

Rogue had proven to be a bit more than I could handle, even though neither of us had landed a single cut on the other. Our battle went from roof to roof, the blades out our scythes hitting each other, causing sparks to shoot into the night air.

"You know, that's a lovely scythe, Death. I might have to make it mine after this," Rogue purred and swung at me again. I dodged and retorted back, "In your dreams. You have illegal scythes to play with, like the one you gave your Reaper." I then glanced down below to see how my Reaper's fight was going.

He was pinned down on the ground, being savagely strangled by Rogue's Reaper. The sight caught me off guard, and Rogue slammed the handle of his scythe into my back, temporarily stunning me. I held onto my back with one hand and said through gritted teeth, "I really hope that when I turn you into the Reaper council, they show you no mercy."

I was trying to keep the image of my student Reaper out of my mind. _He'll be fine, _I told myself. Rogue chuckled darkly, "And you say in my dreams? It seems that you are the one dreaming, Death." Our scythes clashed again, but they were muffled by the shouting and screams from below. They weren't from my Reaper though. Rogue and I both looked down to see that Grim had stepped in and saved his 'little Reaper' by stunning the other.

Now, Rogue's pawn laid on the ground and writhed like a enraged animal. Rogue's eye widened with rage. "No! You can't have possibly taken down my pawn!" he shouted. He was about to leap down to where Grim and my Reaper was, but I tried to stop him.

"I think this is between you and I!" I shouted. Rogue swung the handle of his scythe at me, catching me in the side of the head and knocking me out. I feel down on the roof, trying to clear the dots from my field of vision. Laying there until everything came back into focus and returned normal, I stood back up and looked down below.

That was when I saw Rogue impale Grim with his scythe. I felt my eyes widen with shock at the sight of my old teacher having the hook-like blade of Rogue scythe go deeper and deeper into his chest. The blade was then pulled out of Grim's chest and the Reaper collapsed.

I stared down at the scene, not sure what to make of it all. Then, I saw Rogue turn his attention down to my Reaper and pointed the end of his scythe at him. My emotions got the better of me, and I leaped down to the ground below and threw my scythe at Rogue.

The weapon spun end over end and knocked Rogue's scythe out of his hand. Commanding my scythe, I had it return back to my hands. My enemy stood there for a moment, then slowly turned to look at me. "Persistent….," he snarled and called his scythe back to his hands.

Then, he started to laugh. "What's the matter, Death? Upset that I hurt your old teacher? Well, get over it, cause you're next, my friend." Rogue lifted one of his hands up behind his head and unlatched the eye patch that covered his right eye.

It fell onto the ground, revealing the ruined eye and scar that ran down his face. I lowered my scythe to my side and said, "This is getting in the way." Then, I tore my cloak off my body, sending it flying up into the air.

_Shun_

I was still sitting on the ground, completely frozen after having Rogue almost take my head off of its shoulders. That was when Death stepped in, and they bantered for a bit, but not much of it registered. When I started to come back into focus, I saw just as Rogue took off the eye patch-like device that covered his right eye.

Underneath, there had been a scar and damaged eye that looked just like mine. _"Looks like you've been cursed with that damn eye like me." _That had been what Rogue told me before putting me in the line of fire of his scythe. I then turned my attention to Death as he sent his cloak flying up into the air above him.

And at long last, I saw what he looked like. He was tall and skinny, and tangled, thin brownish hair fell almost to his shoulders. Overall, he was nothing like I had expected Death to look. He and Rogue then locked themselves back into a fierce combat. I remained seated on the ground, then looked over to my side to see that Dan was still rendered immobile.

He had stopped shouting and snarling like an animal, and now just laid there, his shoulders and chest moving as he breathed. Cautiously, I made my way over to him. I then knelt down beside him. "Dan?" I braced myself to see the same mad being that had almost killed me earlier, but I noticed that he didn't move.

When I looked closer, I saw that his eyes were closed and he appeared to be unconscious. I wasn't sure what was going on with him, other than Grim might have landed a hit on him a bit too hard. _Grim…..Crazy fool, _I thought to myself and tried to suppress the sadness that was starting to build up.

He had put himself in harm's way and lost his life cause of me. I then tore my thoughts away from that and returned my attention to the battle taking place before me. Rogue was flying above Death, and was about to bring his scythe down onto my mentor.

Death jumped out of the way at the last moment, causing Rogue's scythe to stick into the asphalt street. Death then tried to land a hit onto Rogue, but the evil Reaper freed his scythe at the last minute and blocked it. I could see the aggravation in both of their eyes; they wanted each other dead.

Rogue then vanished into a cloud of black mist. Death started to frantically look around for his opponent. Suddenly, Rogue materialized behind Death and grabbed him by the throat. The winged Reaper then ascended into the air, still holding Death by his neck. Acting quickly and out of instinct, I grabbed the scythe that Dan had been using, and broke it into its two halves.

And timing it just right, I let one half of the scythe fly, the chain shooting past me as I held the other end. Then, the blade of the projected scythe stuck right into its target; Rogue's wing. He shrieked out in pain and stopped his ascent.

Then, I tugged on the chain, causing the scythe to rip through his wing and making it useless. Death, who still had his scythe in his hands when Rogue grabbed his neck, was able to slice the blade into Rogue's side. The two Reaper's then began to plummet back to the ground.

Death finally freed himself at the last minute and landed a few feet away from Rogue. I ran over to both of them, my scythe in my hand and ready if needed. Death pushed myself up onto his feet, a thin line of blood dripping from somewhere on his forehead.

Rogue, on the other hand, laid there and groaned in his puddle of blood. Up close, the damage I had done to his wing was much more savage that I thought it was; I had literally done all but ripped it off. "You'll both burn for this!" he bellowed.

Death pointed the end of his scythe at Rogue and said, "As much as I'd love to watch you continue to wallow in your own blood, I have a duty to take you into the Reaper council. So, sadly, I can't put you out of your misery, Rogue." The blade of Death's scythe began to glow a soft, light blue, and a collar and handcuffs appeared on Rogue's neck, wrists, and ankles.

"There. Your powers won't be of any help to you now," Death said and lowered his scythe. He then turned to me and grinned lightly. "I owe you a bit of thanks for helping me out back there," he told me. His eyes then adverted over to where Grim laid, and he hurried over to the injured Reaper.

I followed him and stood back a bit. Death loomed over Grim, then sighed and nudged him with his foot. "Wh-what are you doing?" I asked, surprised that he wasn't poking Grim with a stick after that. "Get up you drama queen," Death said calmly and with a slight smile.

Grim's eyes then flew open, and the Reaper jumped up to his feet. "The world's best actor, at your service, Death!" Grim shouted happily. I stared in disbelief. "You….You weren't dead!" Grim chuckled and told me, "Like I said before, I have a few more tricks than you can even imagine. Besides, it will take a bit more than some Reaper's scythe to take me down…..Although, that did hurt quite a bit. I don't recommend doing it again."

I found myself staring at where the hole had been in Grim's chest, and was surprised to find it gone now. I then smiled and told him, "Thanks for saving me back there, Grim." If he hadn't, then I surely would have been killed by Dan, and if I had survived that, then Rogue would have most definitely would have been the one who would have ended my life.

I then looked over at where Dan was laying. He was starting to move around and come to. I was afraid to know if he was still insane like he had been earlier, but I also wanted to know if I had my friend back. Dan then sat up and wrapped his arms around himself. His eyes darted around in a paranoid manner, and he then let out a scream.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song Enemies by Shinedown. _do i deliver, or do i deliver? ;) cause i think i delivered. also, within an hour or so, check out my profile because i finally got my story cover and link to the pictures of Grim, Rogue, and Death on my profile. for the characters, go to the link that is under my photobucket link (it should say link to The Shadow Of Death look-a-likes) my story cover is with the others further down on the profile. _**also, at about...oh, sevenish (which is four hours away from where i'm at) THE POLL WILL BE CLOSED DOWN! VOTE IF YOU HAVE NOT**_! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	18. Funeral Song

_Shun_

I was taken aback by Dan's sudden scream and stared at him, not knowing what had come over my friend. He was still curled up and holding his sides, his shoulders shaking slightly.

Tears were starting to flow freely from my friend's eyes and he looked up at me and the two Reapers that were accompanying me. "I-I'm s-sorry. I-I didn't-" he was only able to stutter out half of his sentence before he lowered his head and started to cry.

Grim tapped his fingers together and walked over to Dan, throwing his cloak over my friend's shaking shoulders. "What's wrong with him?" I asked Death, confused as to why Dan was like this. Death glanced down at Rogue, who was still sitting on the ground and unable to do anything, and let out a sigh.

"I was able to see when your friend showed up that he was under the influence under Rogue's control. And with that kind of power being put on a new Reaper, there's no telling what kind of psychological damage it did." My eyes shifted from Death to Dan.

Grim was trying to help calm him down, but with each advancement, Dan flinched back and away from the older Reaper. A sudden resentment towards Rogue started to build up inside of me. He had done this to Dan, damaged him and turned him into something that he was not, nor was ever supposed to be.

I found myself holding an injury on my left arm; it had been inflicted on me by Dan while he was under Rogue's command. Grim left Dan's side and joined Death and I. He told us, "It looks like all of Rogue's control over him has worn off since we subdued that psychopath."

Grim cut a look towards the chained Reaper, who, in turn, spit on the ground in front of us. All Grim did was narrow his eyes at the Reaper, and turn back to us.

Death placed a hand on my shoulder and told me, "He'll be fine. When we take Rogue in to the Council, I will also take your friend and inform them of his condition. From there, they'll start repairing the damage done to him from Rogue's power, and instruct him on how to be proper and true Reaper, seeing as that is the world he's been sucked into now."

Death then began to explain to me what exactly made Dan and 'illegal' Reaper. It had to do with the fact that he wasn't supposed to die, along with the fact that he wasn't given a choice, but forced to become one by Rogue. Also, Rogue was not one of the few Reapers that were allowed by the Council to turn the deceased into Reapers.

Grim gave me one of his twisted smiles and said, "Your friend will be better in no time, little Reaper." I knew that they were telling the truth, but it still bothered me that this happened. Did it have something to do with one of the arguments that we had? If it did, then I was the reason that Dan left the mansion and fell into Rogue's hands.

I bit my lower lip, then sighed. Blaming myself wasn't going to help anyone, so I decided it was best to push those thoughts out of my mind, and just be thankful that things hadn't turned out worse. I then started to walk towards Dan and stood in front of him.

He looked up at me, tear-stained eyes that could have only belonged to somebody that was damaged. "I-I sorry, Shun. I-I d-didn't mean t-to hurt anyone. I didn't w-want any of t-this!" he shouted and started to cry again. I felt a pang of sympathy for him.

There was no telling what all Rogue had made him do. I extended my hand out to Dan. His watery eyes found their way back up to me, then to my hand. I smiled sadly and said, "I know. Now, get up." Dan sat there for another minute or so, then took my offered hand so I could help him up to his feet.

He pulled the cloak that Grim had put on him tighter, as if shielding himself from the cold that didn't exist. I walked back over to Grim and Death with Dan following behind me, and asked a question that had been troubling me for a while now.

"What about Alice? You haven't taken her soul yet, right, Death?" I wasn't going to protest the taking of her soul any longer. Death had told me that it was painful for a soul to stay trapped in its body after death. And if it was never removed, then the soul would escape and have no choice but to wander around Earth with no cause.

I didn't want this for Alice, no matter how much it pained me to know that she'd be gone. Since the initial shock of her soul being taken away had worn off a while ago, I was ready to come to terms with what was planned out from the first day of her life, maybe even before.

"That's right. She almost slipped my mind. We better get a move on and collect her soul," the Reaper said flatly while brushing a lock of his shaggy, brown hair out of his face. Dan's eyes had widened, and they began to dart between Death and I. "Wait? What? Alice is….Dead? How!" he snapped and grabbed a hold of the collar of Death's shirt.

Grim shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "Bad idea." Death narrowed his eyes down at Dan, and I quickly stepped in before things got out of control. "Alice was supposed to die today, and I was the one supposed to Reap her soul. But I refused and Death has been trying to get to her all night," I informed him.

Dan looked as if I had just slapped him in the face. "Alice can't be dead!" he snapped. "There's got to be something that one of you can do! Turn her into a Reaper if you have to!" he shouted at Death. I stared at Dan in disbelief. "You can't possibly really want that for her?" I asked. "It's not a way of life that she would want."

Dan ran a hand through his hair. Perhaps he wasn't thinking clear after all that he had been through the past couple of hours, so I wasn't holding anything against him. Death crossed his arms over his chest and said, "He's right. Besides, if I were to turn her into a Reaper, she'd be an illegal Reaper, since she died when she was supposed to. If I were to commit such an act, I'd be no different than that low-life over there."

He motioned towards Rogue with his eyes. Grim then began to snicker, which slowly turned into a mad laughter. Dan raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wh-what's so funny?" Grim held up his index finger and purred, "There is _one _thing that might be done for the little ginger."

Death closed his eyes and said firmly, "No. We're not going to do that, Grim." My interest was now stirred, and I asked, "Wait? Do what? What are you two talking about?" Death sighed and was about to tell me, but Grim jumped in and spoke instead.

"You both died before your time, meaning that there should be your remaining time left in something like cold storage. Take that, and give it to the ginger girl, and she'd have however much time the donor had left. But when that time runs out, there's nothing else that can be done for her," Grim said with a wide smile while twisting a lock of his dirty and blood-matted hair.

What I could gather from what Grim just told us, whatever days I had left, could have been given to Alice in the form of new life. I then faced Death and asked, "Why can't you do that? Tell me!" The Reaper cut a cold glare towards Grim, who only waved in return.

"In the eyes of the Council, she'd be considered as deceased, meaning that her records would be stamped as completed. If she were to receive the remainder of your life, whatever happens after it's given to her, will never go down in the books, making it like they never happen. And among other things, it's just a huge and complicated hassle to go through. Also," he hissed and turned to look at Grim.

"The Council informed us years ago that we were not to let anyone know about this little exception to the rule so Reapers wouldn't start giving their remaining years to loved ones. We can't afford people coming back after death. It would gather too much attention in some aspects."

Grim snaked his way up to Death and poked his arm with a blackened fingernail. "Aw, now, Death. Don't ya think you could make this one exception for the little Reaper? He just doesn't want to lose his friend. I'm sure you've been in this boat as well."

Death narrowed his eyes at the older Reaper, and I could see that a nerve had been struck. I took a step forward and looked Death right in his eyes. "Please. This one time. It's all I ask. Give her whatever's left of the years I had. Please, Death."

Normally, I would have hated sounding like I was begging and desperate, but these were different measures. There was a chance that we could have Alice for a little while longer, get to hear her sing-song voice another day, and be graced by caring and concern when it was needed most.

Death sighed and said, "Fine. But this is the absolute only time I'm allowing this. Grim, if you ever utter this to anyone ever again, I'll-" Grim cut the Reaper off mid-sentence and said, "But, Death, there's a bit of a problem we must first see to. It's the small matter that the little Reaper has no days left."

My eyes widened, and I turned to meet his gaze. "What? Why don't I have any days left?" I asked, confusion and anger starting to form inside.

How could I not have any days leftover? Grim placed one of his long fingernails on his lower lip and said smoothly, "You see, the days are good until the day that you are supposed to die for real. After that, they run out. Probably should have mentioned this earlier. So, let's say a Reaper would have lived seven years if he had not met an untimely death. When he reaches the day he was meant to die, those days are no longer good."

I stood there, utterly dumbfounded. "When….When was I supposed to die then?" I asked, hoping that they'd give me my answer and not tell me it was some kind of classified information.

Grim intertwined his fingers together and said, "You were supposed to die in the subway on the day of that train shooting. You were going to get into a fight with your friend over there, and decided to leave and go back home, but could not since your car was meant to break down earlier in the week instead of being totaled in that wreck. Thus, you were to board the train when the gunman appeared, and die from a bullet wound."

His lips curved up into a twisted smile when he said, "I know this because I was the one that was going to Reap your soul that day. I heard all of the moments of your death. But, as you can see, you didn't die when and how you were supposed to. So, here we are!"

He clapped his hands together and jumped up. I wasn't sure how I should have taken this news, but it didn't matter now. I had already died, and had been given a new life because of how I met my end. What was really important, was figuring out how to give Alice her life back.

Dan took a step forward and said, "What about me? Do I have any days left that I could give Alice? I mean….I feel like it's the least I could do, after all that I have done." Death and Grim exchanged a look at each other. "You had more than plenty of years left when you died. In fact, you were meant to live a long life," Death said in his monotone voice.

Dan took in a deep breath and said, "Then give Alice my remaining days. It's not like I need them anymore." Death nodded. "If you're sure, then when we go back to the Council, I'll make the needed arrangements. In fact, we need to get going now."

Death's scythe appeared in his hands, and he swung to blade, tearing open a portal. Inside, I saw the castle that housed the Reaper Council. Grim's eyes lit up with the sight, and he jumped through the portal without a second thought. Death then motioned for Dan to go through.

My friend hesitated for a moment, then started towards the portal. Before going through, he turned to me and said, "Wish me luck, buddy." I smiled sadly and nodded. He then vanished through the portal.

Death, holding Rogue by a chain connected to his restraints, said to me, "You're lucky, you know that, Reaper? I suggest you stay here. If you show up in front of the Council, they'll realize that you escaped."

I told Death that I was aware of that, and watched as he went through the portal and pulled Rogue along behind him. I stood there for a moment, then gathered my thoughts and went to find the hospital Alice had been taken to.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song Funeral Song by The Rasmus. _decided i'd go ahead and update this one since i'm a bit stuck on my zombie fic (i know what will happen, it's just transitioning into it). so, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	19. In My Life

_Shun_

It was easy for me to figure out which hospital Alice had been taken to; I just figured which one was the closest to Murucho's, and headed straight to it. When I walked through the sliding doors, I was immediately hit by the chilly hospital air and smell of sickness.

A woman behind the reception counter in the center of the massive lobby glanced up at me. "May I help you?" she asked while typing something on her desktop computer beside her. I propped my elbows up on the marble counter and said calmly, "Is Alice Gehabich in this hospital? And if so, what room and floor?"

The receptionist gave me a questioning look, then typed Alice's name into the computer. "Yeah. She's on the second floor in recovery. Room 40." I thanked her and headed towards the elevator. As I waited for the two metal elevator doors to open, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of condition Alice was in; she was supposed to be dead, after all.

The ding of the elevator made me jump with surprise, and the two doors slid open. I waited for the people to clear out before stepping in and pressing the floor number. The ride up felt endless, even though I knew it would stop in a matter of seconds.

Finally, the elevator came to a halt, and I stepped off. A man who had been waiting, gave me a nod as a greeting, and took my place in the elevator. Looking at directional signs, I figured out which wing of the floor Alice's room was on. There were hardly any people wandering the halls on this floor.

Perhaps it was because it was getting late at night and visiting hours were most likely coming to an end. I walked past room 37, then 38 and 39, and finally reached room 40. Outside of the heavy wooden door, I could hear the beeping of machines, and the faint sound of a conversation taking place.

Taking in a deep breath, I knocked on the door and slowly pushed it open. Inside, I found Runo and Julie had been the ones talking, while Murucho was sound asleep on the vinyl hospital sofa. Alice laid unconscious in her bed, but it appeared more like she was sleeping.

The sight of her made a pang of sadness strike me. How could something like this happen to somebody so innocent? _I'm sure Death would tell me how fate doesn't care who you are until your time comes. _Runo stood up from her seat and asked in a hushed voice, "Shun? Where have you been? Have you seen Dan?"

Feeling caught off guard by the sudden bombardment of questions, I was unable to find any words to say at the moment. Julie told Runo, "Give him a moment to get comfortable in here. This isn't the most pleasant atmosphere to walk into, ya know?" Runo sighed and sat back down in her chair.

"Guess you're right, Julie." I was grateful for Julie calling off Runo before the questions could really get going. Cautiously, I walked over to Alice's bedside and gazed down at her. She was pale, but that was it. For some reason, I expected her to look worse, seeing that this _was _how she was supposed to die.

"So….What have the doctors said so far?" I asked. I already knew how things would play out for Alice, but I wanted to know how things would have gone if Dan wasn't giving up what was left of his human years, to save Alice.

Runo looked over at her ill friend and said sadly, "They said she's lucky to still be alive right now, even if it's only barely." It was funny how I now knew all of the mechanics of death. I knew she would stay alive for as long as her soul remained in her body, although it would be immensely painful for her, and eventually her soul would work its way out and wander Earth.

Runo continued, "They've purged all of the poison from her system, but how the damage left behind heals will determine her recovery." I nodded slowly and reached down to place my hand on Alice's. It was cold, almost lifeless, but still felt like it held the aura of life deep within.

_Hold on a bit longer, alright? Everything will be okay, _I said to her silently. Runo suddenly asked me, "Shun, have you seen Dan?" I pulled my hand away from Alice's and stood there for a moment, my back towards Runo and Julie so they wouldn't see my facial expression.

What was I supposed to tell them? The truth was certainly out of the question; they wouldn't believe me in the least bit. But what kind of lie could I tell them that would explain Dan's sudden absence that would span for an unknown amount of time?

I ran a hand through my hair and told them, "I'm not sure where he's at. I think he said something about remembering he had to go out of town for a little while. Oh, and that he can't be reached by phone. Not sure why. He probably did something idiotic and lost that privilege, knowing him."

Runo cast her eyes down and said, "Oh. Well, I guess when he gets back he'll be in quite a surprise to know what happened to Alice." I reminded myself how he had not known of the fate that would befall Alice, even though he may have had some forewarning of her death.

But he was also not present when her destined fate kicked in, so the others could only assume that he still didn't know what had happened thus far. Murucho began to stir from his slumber and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Huh? What's with all the noise?"

He slid on his glasses and saw me. "Shun? When did you get here?" Julie glanced over at the wall clock and said, "About ten minutes ago." He straightened his blue shirt and said, "Ah, I see. So, any new word with Alice?" We all shook our heads, and I could a see a bit of disappointment on the short blonde's face.

He then turned to look at me. "I just thought about something. Why did you run back at the mansion when Alice collapsed, Shun?" My actions had totally slipped my mind with all of the chaos that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours.

"Guess I was caught off guard at first, but then I ran to try and find some help, and well…Got a bit sidetracked," I told him earnestly. "But that's beside the point now. Now, Alice is alive and getting some of the treatment that the city has." This put a slight smile on the three of their faces; something reassuring was what they needed to hear right now. The door slowly swung open and a doctor walked in.

He saw us and waved. "Hello. I'm just here to check on her and take a few blood tests to see how she's coming along." We all stepped to the side of the room to get out of the doctor's way. He took two vials of blood and replaced an IV line in her arm.

When he was done, he thanked us for our cooperation and was about to leave when Alice made a slight noise before forcing her eyes open. "Huh? What's going on? Where am I?" she asked in a groggy voice, as if she had just woken up from a long nap.

The doctor stood there beside her bed, his eyes wide and jaw slightly slack. Runo, Julie, and Murucho were doing the same, but quickly snapped from their trance and ran to her beside, where the gave her the closest thing to a hug that they could give her without piling on top of her.

"Alice!" the three squealed in unison. The doctor was still standing firmly in his place and said beneath his breath, "It's a miracle." He then shook his head and said in a normal voice, "I'm thrilled to see that you're awake now, Miss Gehabich. This means one step closer to your recovery. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to run your blood samples off to the lab and I'll be back in a little while after that to check on you again."

He then walked out of the room, still looking somewhat astounded by the sudden miraculous recovery that took place before him. Runo and the others finally broke from their hug, tears of happiness and relief streaming down their faces.

Alice, who looked utterly lost by what was happening, turned to look at me and asked, "Could somebody explain to me what's going on?" Murucho suddenly bowed and said quickly, "I'm sorry this happened, Alice. It was supposed to be me in that hospital bed."

Alice tilted her head to the side, still not following. Runo patted Murucho's small shoulder and explained to Alice, "Somebody tried to poison Murucho, and it was in his drink that he switched with you. But that's all over now. You're back, and that's what's important."

Alice still showed no signs of remembering this, but she didn't press the subject any further. Instead she smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad everything's okay." The others smiled and nodded with agreement. Alice turned and looked at me, a smile still plastered on her pale features. I chuckled and told her, "It's good to have you back."

_Death_

I watched as the Council took Rogue down into the dungeon cells, where it was just announced that he would spend the rest of his eternal years down there, with no hope of ever getting out. _That's how it needs to be. _Now, there was the matter of Rogue's illegal Reaper.

Grim and I had presented him to the Council and explained his predicament. Of course, they placed him in a rehabilitation program to turn him into a proper Reaper, and hopefully reverse the mental damage done to his mind.

The head of the Council looked down at the illegal Reaper and told him, "You are to spend your time in there until you show signs of changing. When you are dismissed, you will be assigned to an instructor." Grim suddenly shot his hand up and said eagerly, "Oh! Oh! Let me be his instructor! Please! Please!"

The illegal Reaper's eyes widened and he shouted, "No! You're not going to assign me to that lunatic! He freaks me out!" I found myself grinning at the scene before me, remembering how I had said the same thing when I was first assigned to Grim to become a Reaper.

The head of the Council raised a brow and asked, "Grim, are you sure you want to volunteer for this case? You know we have professional Reapers that handle these kinds of things? They are trained to make teaching illegal Reapers an easy task."

Grim cackled and told the head of the Council, "You see, sir, I may be old, but I am nowhere near past my prime. I can handle an illegal Reaper with ease, I promise you this. Besides, I think it will be fun!" The illegal Reaper stood there, unable to believe what was taking place before him.

The head of the Council crossed his arms and said, "Alright then, you will be assigned to Grim. Have no worries, young Reaper. Grim is one of our top Reapers here. He taught Death over there, and I promise you that you will turn out fine." The head of the Council was about to walk off, but I stopped him. "Wait. I have something else to say." He raised a brow and said, "Yes, Death?"

I closed my eyes and gathered up my words before I said them. "We request permission to pass this Reaper's years on to a human that has recently encountered her fate. I know that this is not supposed to be done due to fear that other Reaper's will begin to bring back their deceased loved ones, but please make this the one exception."

Grim clapped his hands together and gave the head of the Council a puppy dog-like face. "Please, Mr. Council Man? We won't trouble you with anything ever again," he said with an innocent look, which suddenly vanished into one of mischief.

"But if you don't, then I'll follow you around for the rest of eternity! What fun that will be!" Grim began to laugh madly to the point where he fell onto the floor. The illegal Reaper glared down at his new mentor and said under his breath, "This is what I'm stuck with as a teacher?"

The head of the Council stared at Grim with horror; he knew my old mentor wasn't bluffing when he said that he would follow him around. The head of the Council let a shudder escape as he thought about what he would have to endure with.

"Fine. This is the _only _exception. If any of you speak of this, you'll suffer the full consequences. Take the illegal Reaper away and make the transfer over to, um, what is the receiver's name?" The illegal Reaper spoke up and said, "Alice Gehabich."

The head of the Council nodded his head and said, "Well, you heard him. Now, take him away and let these two Reapers be on their way." Two Reaper's escorted the brunette away and into another room, where his rehabilitation would begin immediately.

As Grim and I exited the Council's headquarters, I told him, "You know how to get your way, don't you?" He snickered and said, "Indeed." A slight grin formed on my lips. "Why did you decide to take that illegal Reaper as a student?" I asked while looked up at the moon in the night sky.

Grim told me in that smooth tone of his, "The way he is now reminds me of when I first began to teach you to become a Reaper; stubborn and obnoxious as hell. And because of that, I want to reminisce on the old days." I smiled and told him, "Well, if he is anything like me, then after you're done with him, he won't be stubborn and obnoxious anymore." Grim laughed. "You got that right, Death," he said with a grin.

_One Week Later…._

_Shun_

"Surprise!" we all shouted as Murucho walked into the lobby of his mansion that morning after waking up. He jumped back in shock, but calmed down when he began to look around the room and see how it was decorated. Balloons and streamers were scattered everywhere, and a birthday cake stood center stage in the room.

"What?" he asked but couldn't help but smile. Alice, who had recently been discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, stepped forward and smiled. "It occurred to all of us that we never got to celebrate your belated birthday with all of the madness that went on," she said happily.

Murucho's faithful butler Kato walked up behind the short blonde, and put on a birthday hat that matched the one that the butler was wearing on his balding head. "Thanks, guys. Really, I mean it," he said while straightening the hat on his head.

This party had been delayed since I arrived and had my wreck, where my unplanned death happened. Then everything else seemed to get in the way as well. In fact, this was the only reason that I had come all the way out here from the start, so it was a good feeling to know that it was finally happening. Julie jumped up and clapped her hands together.

"It's time for Murucho to blow out the candles on his cake! Come on!" She ran over behind the short blonde and pushed him towards the cake. I chuckled and caught sight of something in the corner of the room; Death was standing there. He was wrapped up in his cloak, making it to where nobody but me could see him.

I told the others, "Hey, I'll be right back. Go on without me if you want." Death slipped into a neighboring room, and I joined him so we could talk without the others thinking I was going crazy again. "I find it ironic that a being of Death is celebrating the day of a person's life. But who am I to judge?" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

I was about to ask what he was doing here, but I quickly realized why when I saw who was standing in the room behind him. It was Grim, who was accompanied by Dan. "Hey, you're back," I said with a smile. Dan gave me a thumbs up and said, "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did ya? Besides, is it like me to miss a good party?"

I chuckled, and quickly noticed something different about him; he was wearing glasses. "What's up with those?" I asked and pointed towards his face. Dan took a moment till he realized what I was talking about.

He laughed nervously and said, "Oh, these? They keep me from seeing the lifeline of people until I want to, and when I do, I just take them off. Shades do the same thing for some reason, but glasses are bit more acceptable while inside."

It was certainly different seeing Dan with glasses, but I was sure that I'd get used to it. My friend then snapped his fingers and said, "Oh, yeah! Guess who my mentor is?" Before I could even say anything, Dan pointed over to Grim and said, "Him!"

I couldn't help but laugh, seeing as the two had had a somewhat unpleasant first meeting, and it had seriously disturbed Dan. Grim snickered and told me, "Eyes was a bit apprehensive about it at first, but he got used to being around me rather quickly."

I titled my head to the side and looked at Dan. "Eyes?" I asked. My friend pointed to his eyes and said, "He calls me that cause I can see how much time people have left to live." Grim jumped into our conversation and said with smirk, "It's my nickname for him. Just like mine for you is little Reaper." He began to laugh and wiped a tear from his eyes.

"I'm a genius! How do I come up with this stuff?" I shrugged my shoulders and told him, "I have no clue. Hey, Dan, we better get back to the others. They'll be happy to see you again. And if it comes up, you were out of town for the past week, alright?"

He gave me a thumbs up. "Alright, buddy!" We walked out of the room, and behind us I could hear Grim shout, "Bring me back some cake!" Dan shook his head, and I found myself grinning. When we returned to the lobby, it didn't take long for the others to realize that Dan was with me.

"Look what I found," I said with a smile. They smiled and ran to him, where they wrapped him into a group hug, causing him to fall over. "Dan! You made it!" they squealed in unison. They stayed there for a moment, rejoicing in the return of their friend.

Dan finally said, "Okay, guys. Time to get off. I can't breathe." They quickly climbed off and apologized for nearly suffocating him. Runo, Julie, and Murucho led Dan over towards where the cake was and began to catch up with him, but Alice stayed back and next to me.

She was watching as the others were celebrating having the entire group back, and Alice was smiling herself. "You know, Shun, despite all the bad things that's happened the past few weeks, I'm glad that everything is back to normal and that we're all here together, like it should be."

I smiled, realizing that if none of us had gotten our second chances, half of this group would be gone, all died in the course of a couple of weeks. I looked over at Alice, catching her eye and causing her to turn and look at me as well, and smiled. "I'm glad we're all here as well," I told her.

She smiled and walked over to where the others were gathered to join in their celebration. Although Dan and I would end up being the only ones to remain alive while the others passed on with time, what was important was the time that we spent together, enjoying moments like this. I smiled and walked across the room to join them.

_Death_

Grim and I watched as the small group celebrated their friend's anniversary of life. My mentor said in a dreamy tone, "Isn't it precious, Death? When was the last time either of us ever celebrated our birthdays?" I crossed my arms over my chest and told him, "When we died and became Reapers."

Grim rolled his eyes. "Come on, Death. That was eons ago, and you expect when little old me died? You kid around too much, you know that?" Grim said in a whiny tone. I raised a brow at him and said, "_I _kid too much? Looks who's talking." Grim snickered and sat down on the floor Indian-style as he watched the celebration taking place.

As I watched the two Reapers talk with their friends, I realized something that separated them from me and other Reapers. Unlike us, who had cut ourselves off from our friends and families after we took on this job, they stayed and enjoyed the time they had left with them before mortality took them.

That was something I had wished that I had done before everyone I knew passed away as the years went on. I grinned sadly and told Grim, "It's time we take our leave. We aren't needed here at the moment." I turned on my heels and headed towards the door.

Grim ran up beside me and whined, "But, Death! They were supposed to bring me some cake!" I ignored his whining and stepped outside into the sunlight. All around me, life kept on going, never stopping for the world, even when it stopped entirely for one person.

That was how things worked. People would mourn, and go on with their daily routines. I told Grim, "You can stay behind if you want." I then began to walk down the sidewalk, going past people that were completely oblivious to the fact that Death was right in front of them.

Grim ran up beside me and said, "Nah, I'm going with you. You might do something fun, and I wouldn't be there for it if I stayed, now would I?" I smiled, but didn't say anything else to my mentor as we continued to leave the mansion behind.

I had learned a lesson that I wished I had when I first became a Reaper and even before that; live your life to the fullest, for you never know when it will be taken away from you.

* * *

_chapter titled based off the song In My Life by the Rasmus. _i find it kinda ironic how the first title and the last title are related to that band (it was not intended, i swear). well, another story down. a million more to go. i'll get back on _Southern Hymn _ASAP. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


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